Ten years ago, I spoke at a rally before a National Labor Relations Board election at the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A month earlier, organizers from the International Association of Machinists (IAM) had “discovered” that there had been a union in Reynolds in the 1940s and that I had written a book about it. They wanted me to tell IAM supporters about that earlier victory and inspire them to do it again.
At about the same time the organizers met the Reverend John Mendez, pastor of the Emanuel Baptist Church. Mendez had a long history of civil rights and social justice activism in Winston-Salem and elsewhere, and they hoped he could put them in touch with black grassroots leaders who might help persuade black workers to support the campaign. They got much more than they bargained for.
By the time of the IAM rally, Mendez...