Very Special Guest at This Year's 11th District Labor Day Picnic
Submitted by Anastasia Pantsios on Fri, 08/31/2012 - 12:25am.
Well, it looks like Ohio's 11th district congresswoman Marcia Fudge has acquired some of the mojo of the dynamic predecessor Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who in 2004 landed presidential candidate John Kerry as the headline speaker at the long-running annual 11th Congressional District Community Caucus Labor Day Festival at Luke Easter Park.
That was quite an event, with an enthusiastic crowd cheering for a candidate who was much more dynamic and exciting than the media ever gave him credit for, connecting easily with the mainly African-American crowd.
This year, President Obama will speak at the conclusion of this year's festival, shortly before 5 p.m.
It's going to be a long day for parade participants — and volunteers like me. When I signed up to volunteer again this year, I figured it to be another low-key event like last year, with maybe a few more judicial candidates than usual (Hi, Frankie Goldberg! Hi, Michael Jackson! Hi, Cullen Sweeney! I swear, this trio is everywhere).
It's always a good time. The parade starts wending its way down Kinsman to Luke Easter Park at 10 a.m. Once you get to the park, there's food, vendors, information booths, games for kids, music, lots going on. The congresswoman introduces all of the officeholders and candidates who show up — and I'll bet they're all going to show up now!
The event is free and open to all. Just expect security to be a lot tighter this year.
The Middle Class Celebrates Labor Day
Some Musings On Labor Day 2012
I'm getting ready to march with my sisters and brothers in the great Marcia Fudge Congressional labor day parade on the east side of Cleveland on Monday...and what a great time to reflect on what that really means! I've been doing this since way back when Congressman Louie Stokes started this great tradition and then handed it down to my friend the late great Stephanie Tubbs Jones. It ends with a picnic at Luke Easter Park, and let me tell you, anyone who leaves that fiesta hungry is a fool. The food, friendship, sounds, and old fashioned politics are just a sight to behold.
Which brings me to my knees in gratitude as I realize how this year's race for the Supreme Court of Ohio is shaping up. Simply stated, our message of "Money and Judges Don't Mix" seems to be taking on a national flavor, as over and over again, you see the elections this year are being shaped by money. Who has it, how they are spending it, and what are the real priorities of our government in America.
And the words "middle class" have taken center stage. Finally. You know, our family started out at 88th and Superior in Cleveland, and there were nine kids and no jobs. But my grandfather had a sort of paying gig selling advertising space in the AFL-CIO's Cleveland News, the first real labor newspaper of its kind. We are talking 1930 here, and let's be frank: in 1930 there was no middle class. There were the verrrrry rich Rockefellers, Morgans, Firestones and Carnegies....and then there was everybody else.
But along came those pesky Unions with this chatter about the dignity of labor, and an honest day's pay for an honest days work, and safe work conditions, and the 40 hour work week....and so on. My daughter Katie and I got into an animated discussion this morning about the "definition" of the middle class, and after about an hour I came up with my definition. The middle class in my mind is the ability to (1) own your own home (2) own your own automobile; (3) educate your children through the college level; (4) provide health coverage for your loved ones; and be able to (5) put enough savings away to carry you through temporary hard times and provide a retirement with dignity. Katie and I disagree about what the dollar amount is, but the number is not really important. The idea counts.
And that's what brought me to take INVENTORY THIS MORNING of the Unions, representing nearly a quarter of a million (250,000) Ohio workers who have endorsed my candidacy. To look at them is to answer the middle class question. And to realize they are at my side in this struggle gives me the strength and courage to go forward every day. Take a Look:
UNITED AUTO WORKERS. Face it folks...they invented the middle class! From Detroit to Toledo to Cleveland, Youngstown and Pittsburgh...good paying jobs, with good benefits, and good retirement. A finer ally in the fight for fairness in Ohio you could never find.
OHIO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: Oh my gosh. As recently as 1970 school teachers in Ohio were thought of as spinster school "marms" who did not need real wages like real men with families. Let them educate our children...but pay them a living wage? Seriously. Well the teacher's Unions have straightened that thinking out but good. And they believe that my candidacy is worth supporting. I am humbled.
OCSEA/AFSCME. This is the part of the labor movement I had the privilege of working for back in the 70's and boy have they come a long way. As recently as 1974, IT WAS COMMON PRACTICE to fire all employees when there was a change of administration. I am talking about a new State Auditor comes in and all the people...the breadwinners for thousands of homes....LOSE THEIR JOBS ON DAY ONE. Well along comes those pesky public sector Unions, and that all changes. Now a job in the public sector, as a highway worker, a firefighter or a prison guard is the entryway to the middle class.
Enough. I just gotta say, on this Labor Day...I have been hit by a truck on a picket line, and served time in jail during a Union disturbance....and on Monday....I will be with my sisters and brothers CELEBRATING LABOR DAY. Because it is our day. Yours and mine.
Peace.
Bill
www.oneillforjustice.com
Sat, September 1, 2012