2010 National Convention: Tuesday

The day began, as every day does, with an invocation. It was delivered today by Dr. Charles Adams, the Senior Pastor of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church here in Detroit. It started out okay, built into something that felt a little over the top, but he kept going over the top and reached the sublime. It was the only invocation I've ever heard or seen that received a standing ovation. I hope the APWU captured it on video ... which, by the way, you can catch YouTube video reports of Convention issues and keynote addresses at the APWU website.

We returned to the business of the convention for a brief time, and then suspended proceedings to receive a word from Reverend Jesse Jackson (pictured), who was passing through town on his statewide Jobs, Justice, and Peace bus tour. Reverend Jackson feels close to us postal workers, as his father worked as a postal custodian. After his address, which ended with a chant of "Keep. Hope. Alive!", he and President Bill Burrus led the entire delegation - over 2,000 of us - on a half-mile march through the streets of Detroit to protest the USPS plan to cut Saturday delivery. I've posted several pictures to the Local's Facebook account.

Once reconvened in mid-afternoon, we received another message of solidarity and exhortation from National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando.

By the time this was finished, we had not much time left before our adjournment at 4:00, but still we managed to wade through two more committee reports on submitted resolutions.