Bishop Dwayne Royster speaks at the launch of the coalition that started the Millions of Jobs campaign in Washington, DC. (Photo: Courtesy of Bishop Dwayne Royster)
Since election night 2016, the streets of the US have rung with resistance. People all over the country have woken up with the conviction that they must do something to fight inequality in all its forms. But many are wondering what it is they can do. In this ongoing “Interviews for Resistance” series, experienced organizers, troublemakers and thinkers share their insights on what works, what doesn’t, what has changed and what is still the same. Today’s interview is the 43rd in the series. Click here for the most recent interview before this one.
Today we bring you a conversation with Bishop Dwayne Royster, the political director of the PICO National Network and PICO Action Fund. Royster also serves as the first national vice chair of the Working Families Party.
Sarah Jaffe: You are part of quite a large coalition that launched a Millions of Jobs campaign. Tell us about that.
Bishop Dwayne Royster: We are working with a coalition of organizations that have pressed the Congressional Progressive Caucus to come up with a plan for a jobs and infrastructure bill that will put millions of people back to work. In particular, those folks that have been really locked out of the job market, locked out of infrastructure opportunities and jobs; also making sure that we are looking toward the future and not looking toward the past by building out green jobs, by working in urban areas, making sure people of color are prioritized in the work around the infrastructure builds that need to happen, that we are building our education infrastructure across the country, building schools. We want to make sure we get parents and other people in the communities where those schools are getting built … by creating job opportunities for them.
We are really excited because we think the legislation that is going forward is going to be…