United States SenateCandidate for Senator

John Parker was only 18 when he organized his first union election--at a small steel plant in New Jersey. An African American, he has worked at a variety of other jobs, including teaching at a public school in Newark. After moving to Los Angeles with his family several years ago, he became a leader in the anti-war movement there and helped organize and chair several large rallies against the U.S. war in Iraq. He then worked hard to mobilize anti-war forces to support the 80,000 grocery workers on a strike/lockout against three giant southern California food chains. Currently Parker has written and is the main proponent of a ballot initiative for the City of Los Angeles requiring a $15 minimum wage that would take effect immediately upon voter approval. Parker has been a part of anti-war delegations with the International Action Center. He visited Sudan with former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark to report on that country's main pharmaceutical plant after it was demolished in 1998 by a U.S. missile strike. He has been to Iraq and seen the terrible effects of sanctions on the people there, especially children. He also did solidarity work in Cuba in 1997 with the Venceremos Brigade

I am a real socialist and therefore believe that the basic contradiction in capitalist society that keeps it from progressing is the undemocratic ownership of the productive forces - the factories, land and machinery that provide the basic necessities of life. The military, communication, financial and energy industries must be publicly owned so that decisions are based on human needs, not profit. These profits are created from the exploitation of working people, but are the possession of less than 1% of the population. This tremendous power given to less than 1% of the population allows these financial and industrial monopoly owners the ability to warm the planet, fund and prosecute endless wars and unleash fascist-like police forces especially on Black and Brown communities for the purpose of maintaining an unjust sytem - capitalism. The only way this contradiction can be resolved is with the ownership of the means of production transferred to the working and poor people who make up the majority of the population in the U.S.