Take Down the Gompers Quote from the Wall of Murphy Institute

Samuel Gompers, founder of the AFL whose quote bedecks the wall of the 18th floor of the Murphy Institute, nevertheless held racist, misogynistic and xenophobic views that influenced his policies.

• He lobbied for the extension of the notorious Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) that prohibited Chinese labor, co-authored an anti-Chinese pamphlet and advocated for immigration and social policies directed against Asians writ-large.
• He advocated for segregated locals, approved of lower pay and more dangerous work for women and people of color, as well as barring them from holding union office.
• His brand of craft unionism supported a labor aristocracy and caused serious damage to any effort to bring about broad-based industrial working class unity.

Under his leadership, the AFL unfortunately took on many of the reprehensible practices for which it is still known today -- apprenticeship access on a recommendation-only basis and exclusion of women and people of color, aka “the good old boys club.”

The ignorance, hatred, and bigotry behind Gompers’s view have contaminated the fabric of American society and survived till this day. To maintain his quote at the center of Murphy Institute is to embrace and help continue racism and sexism. The intention of Murphy institute, on the other hand, is to inspire a truly progressive vision of the labor movement. As such, Murphy Institute should not feature a quotation in its halls by the same man who said, “The Caucasians are not going to let their standard of living be destroyed by Negroes, Chinamen, Japs, or any others.” (Gompers, 1905)

Therefore, we ask the administration of the school to take down the Samuel Gompers quote from the wall of Murphy Institute.