GOODBYE TO TWO ALLIES

This week, progressive people lost two allies.
Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Chief from 1985 to 1995, died this week. She was 64.
Mankiller was a tireless advocate for the rights of Native Americans and all oppressed people her entire life. One of the first actions in which she participated was in support of a group of young American Indian demonstrators who had taken over Alcatraz Island to call attention to the treatment of Indians.
Rest in Peace Wilma Mankiller.

We also lost Corin Redgrave, brother of Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave. Besides being a brilliant actor, Corin was also an advocate of human rights. He protested the Iraq War and demonstrated for the closure of Guantanamo Bay. He was a member of the Workers' Revolutionary Party, and he and Vanessa founded the Peace and Progressive Party.
Corin was an unwavering supporter of the Gypsy/Travellers in England. In 2005, he experienced a serious heart attack while addressing a public meeting, speaking in support of a travelers' site in Billericay, England.
One of his last performances was in a 2008 play about Dalton Trumbo, a writer blacklisted during the McCarthy purge.