Located in a north central Baltimore community, the Govans Post Office became the site for a raucous rally supporting the U.S. Postal Service. The rally was called by the CPUSA Baltimore Club and the Winston Govans Neighborhood Improvement Association.

About 40–50 people wearing masks gathered on Friday, August 21, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and carried signs saying, in lots of ways, “This is MY post office! And we WILL have service!” The noise was provided by passing car drivers who “honked it up” as soon as they saw our signs. And it was rush hour, so the noise was pretty deafening.

Participants at the rally represented the surrounding neighborhood associations, and Donna Blackwell of the York Road Partnership noted that the Post Office played a central role in making Govans a good community. She and two of the other speakers had parents who worked in the post office all their lives.

Perhaps the most powerful statement made was by the rally’s main speaker, Courtney Jenkins, who is the legislative coordinator for the American Postal Workers Union in Baltimore. He told us, “It isn’t magic that gets the mail to your home from everywhere in the world, it’s LABOR!”

And labor is the targeted enemy of Trump and the Republicans. The APWU represents a huge number of rank-and-file unionists who work for the government. Beyond trying to tamper with the largely mail-in voting expected to happen this November, breaking the Postal Union is a major objective of many conservative actors in this country.

As various postal truck drivers left the building with their mail, destined for every direction in the world, they honked and raised their fists. We knew we were in the right place on a very important day—at a post office during a crisis, supporting workers and our right to service from our government.

#SavethePostOffice!!!

Images: Baltimore CPUSA.

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