Peter Brown
Peter Brown is a member of Democratic Socialists of America[1]. Former Faculty member at Laney College, Oakland, CA. Married to Vicki Gunter.
Education
- Studied Associates of Applied Science for Machine Tool Technology at Laney College, Oakland California
- Studied at Reed College
- Went to Pleasant Hill High School, Pleasant Hill CA
Public Facebook Group
Members of the DSA San Diego - North County Branch public Facebook Group - January 13 2021 included Peter Brown. Co-Coordinator at Schools for Chiapas.
Poor People’s Campaign teach-in
“There’s only one place in America anybody is guaranteed a roof over their head, and that’s in prison,” said Oakland community leader John Jones III when he spoke at the new Poor People’s Campaign teach-in Oct. 30 2018 at the Student Center.
Keynote speaker and San Jose anti-poverty leader Sandy Perry said there are an estimated 7,000 homeless people in Oakland, but that number may not represent the entirety of the issue.
“If your city is only giving you the minimum rights that the state allows, you have virtually no protection,” said panelist and Political Science instructor Andrea Slater. “We are the system. We are not outside.”
Laney English professor Roger Porter started the Homeless Student Support Group. He said his inspiration to start the support group happened when, every semester, some students say they are living out of their cars and are housing-insecure.
“As the black population in Oakland has been cut in half,” he said, “the homeless population is upwards of 70 percent.”
Recently retired Laney instructor Peter Brown helps organize with the new Poor People’s Campaign committee. He was part of the “More Cuts to Social Programs Panel” and said that everyone should think of themselves as teachers. All it takes to be a good teacher is to be a good student who studies their surroundings.
“When we understand the mechanisms at work in a process,” he said, “then we aren’t victims of that process anymore—we’re participants.”
This generation is a transformational one, he said, and nothing but a total change in the public system will do.
“Talk about the force that you are and can be,” he said. “You’re homeless? Talk to your friends about it. You’re struggling? Talk to your friends about it. We are the force to make a new world.”
Student Senator Evetta Williams also served on the panel.[2]
Radical tradesman
Peter Brown is a journeyman machinist who has taught Machine Technology at Laney College in Oakland since 2006. He is involved in the struggle for a new world where people's needs are met, both as an artist and industrial worker. His articles have been published by the People's Tribune, California Federation of Teachers, Occupy.com, Nation of Change.org, and Daily Censored.com. His specialty is making economics and technology understandable to all, in ways that offer genuine hope for a dynamic, positive future for humanity. Peter can speak with your church, union, club, community group or classroom. [3]
New American Movement
In 1974 Peter Brown was a member of the Middlesex chapter of the New American Movement.[4]
DSA Renegotiate NAFTA petition
In 2009 Peter Brown, Democratic Socialists of America, signed a petition calling on President Barack Obama to Renegotiate NAFTA. The petition was initiated and circulated by Democratic Socialists of America.[5]
League of Revolutionaries for a New America
Peter Brown has taught Machine Technology (old-fashioned name – Machine Shop) at Laney Community College in Oakland, California since 2006. He is a Journeyman Machinist, and apprenticed with Caterpillar Tractor Co. He has lived on the same block in East Oakland since 1971.
Peter is an active member of Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603, and of the Educational Issues Committee of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT)
Peter is a founding member of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA), http://lrna.org/ Most of the writing he does is based on the education and training he has received as a member of LRNA.[6]
Speakers for a New America
Circa 2015 Peter Brown was part of Speakers for a New America, the speakers bureau for League of Revolutionaries for a New America.