Steve Early presents "Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and Remaking an American City"

First Congregational Church of Oakland
2501 Harrison St
Oakland, CA 94612

KPFA Radio 94.1FM presents

Steve Early, Gayle McLaughlin, Andres Soto
Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City
Co-sponsored by 22 progressive organizations

Tickets: $12 advance: T: 800-838-3006 or independent bookstores, $15 door. KPFA benefit kpfa.org/events
FREE PARKING & WHEELCHAIR ACCESS

"This timely book offers ideas and inspiration for making change where it counts the most--among friends, neighbors, and fellow community members." - Senator Bernie Sanders

Labor Activist Steve Early documents how a largely non-white working class community of 110,000 people spawned a vibrant culture of resistance to corporate power after more than a century of political dominance by the Chevron Corporation. Richmond, California - long a proto-typical company town with one of the highest homicide rates per capita in the country, with poverty, joblessness, drug trafficking, street crime, gang violence and wild corruption in City Hall resulting in mismanagement and near bankruptcy - transformed itself over a decade into a progressive city via multi-faceted municipal reforms. These were led by labor and community activists, environmental justice campaigners, police reformers, and gay rights activists who formed the Richmond Progressive Alliance.

"As Washington remains in gridlock, the everyday citizen-heroes of Richmond, California, have been getting things done to make their city work for all. Refinery Town is essential reading for anyone seeking inspiration for what grassroots organizing can accomplish, one community at a time." - Robert Reich

STEVE EARLY has been an organizer, lawyer, author, union representative, and labor activist for the past forty-five years.

GAYLE McLAUGHLIN, former mayor of Richmond, Ca., has served as the first corporate-free progressive officeholder on the Richmond City Council.

ANDRES SOTO has been long an organizer with Communities for a Better Environment.

$12 advance, $15 door.