Melrod, Jon: - Born into the political and cultural quiescence of the 1950s, Jonathan Melrod
grew up in apartheid-like Washington DC. Active in the student movement
that opposed the Vietnam War and a supporter of black liberation, Jon
embraced the ideology that the working class held the power to radically
transform society. He left the campus for the factory in 1973. For
thirteen years, he immersed himself in the day-to-day struggles of
Milwaukee's working class, both on the factory floor and in the
political arena. Despite FBI surveillance and interference, Jon
organized a militant rank-and-file caucus and rose through union ranks
to a top leadership position in UAW Local 72. After a mass workforce
cutback imposed by AMC's joint venture partner Renault, he left to
attend Hastings college of the law in San Francisco in 1985. Graduating
cum laude with a JD, he opened a law firm in San Francisco successfully
representing hundreds of political refugees.