Homeboy Came to Orange

Ernest Thompson (Author) Ernest Thompson was a union leader, field organizer, and the first African-American on the national staff for the UE, as well as national secretary of UE's Fair Practices Committee. He was also a national leader of the National Negro Labor Council, fighting racism and discrimination. It was in Orange, New Jersey, that he became known as "Homeboy," and the majority of Homeboy Came to Orange tells the story of his organizing for "people's power," beginning with a fight to desegregate the schools his daughter attended.Mindy Thompson Fullilove (Author) Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, is an American social psychiatrist who focuses on the ways environmental factors affect the mental health of communities. She is Professor of Urban Policy and Health, Urban Policy Analysis & Management Program, Milano School for International Affairs, Management & Urban Policy, The New School. She has numerous published articles and six books, including URBAN ALCHEMY: Restoring Joy in America's Sorted-Out Cities and ROOT SHOCK: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What We Can Do About It.

"Thompson helped people see that what's morally right is politically astute and that the racist and classist power structures you are fighting against want nothing more than for you to fight among yourselves, rather than organize. Organizing, when it's done right, when people really listen to themselves and each other, isn't just about winning a race or a campaign. It is a collective act of love. More than anything, Ernie Thompson shows us how to love." - Robert Sullivan (author, My American Revolution) "Homeboy Came to Orange is an essential read for anyone who wants to organize for change in their towns, schools, churches or communities. It is a story that is at once inspiring, challenging, and unwavering." - Terri Baltimore (Director of Community Engagement, Hill House Association) "The re-release of Ernie Thompson's book about his rich life as an anti-racism union organizer should be read by young (and other) human beings who have decided to hold church in the streets, courts, state houses, and ballot boxes in the south (and other) parts of the U.S., against the white nationalism of the fake GOP." - Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, (co-director of the New Poor People's Campaign, architect of the Moral Monday Movement, and past president of the NC NAACP.) "This book encourages the reader to not be complacent with injustice anywhere and to draw from their own strengths to build coalitions that work to actualize a People's Democracy rooted in universal equality (equity)." - Rev. Dr. Anika Whitfield of Little Rock