State Of The Union

My father was a hardcore union man his entire adult working life. He believed in the union and what it represented for the working man and of the middle class families it helped to create, in particular the middle class African-American families. He knew of the days when workers had horrible working conditions, got paid extremely low wages and were told to be grateful that at least they had a job. Because of this, he favored the advantages afforded in having union representation in negotiations with business owners. Most people don’t realize the majority of rights and benefits workers are offered today are because of the hard work unions put in decades ago. Because of organized labor my father and mother were able to earn a decent living wage and provide medical and dental benefits for our entire family as well as pension plans for their senior years through their respective unions. There was nothing radical about my father’s ideas, because of his union he expected to be treated with respect and dignity, in fact it’s where I got my “I don’t have to take shit from you” attitude about employers. I watched both of my parents get up and go to work each and every day and quite simply they both felt that hard honest work should be rewarded and they passed this work ethic on to me and my sisters.

Recently Republican lawmakers in Michigan quietly passed legislation through a lame-duck session and Michigan became a “right to work state”, or as President Obama called it “right to work for less”. The legislation states that workers are no longer required to join a union and pay dues and fees to it in order to get or keep a job. Michigan legislators say their intent is to give workers more choice and support economic growth, but the real intent is to weaken organized labor by encouraging workers to freeload by withholding money unions need to bargain effectively. These freeloaders pay no dues but still reap the benefits of collective bargaining. It’s amazing how effective Republicans are in brainwashing the middle class. Equally amazing is how middle class workers are unable to see right through these liars and continually vote against their best interest. Theses conservative politicians convince the public that all the economic problems in Michigan are the union's fault, as if all the crappy products the auto industry was producing were decisions of the union management, all the while knowing their main goal is to take away workers’ rights. Bankrupting unions prevents union influence during elections but big business and political PACs like those funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers can spend all they want all of which helps the GOP at election time.

The fact is that without unions, workers are subject to the whims and decisions of bad managers. Wages have dropped, benefits are disappearing, and workers are being exploited and abused…just take a look at Wal-Mart. This union busting is about businesses making bigger profits by paying workers less. Their profits go up while workers’ paychecks go down. Sure there will be more jobs because like Wal-Mart they cut hours, pay minimum wage and are able to get two workers for the price of one. The Republicans call workers making $20 an hour greedy yet they call billionaires who want more profits on the backs of their workers and less taxes successful. Unions have fought long and hard for things such as fair wages and safe working conditions yet Republicans say union workers are wrong because they want these things. What should happen is that when a union bargains and achieves higher wages and increased benefits it should only go to union members. Those who want to save a few measly bucks a month in union dues should be left to bargain on their own.

Worker issues have changed over the years, but workers still need an organization to stand up for their rights, wages and working conditions. It is very easy to forget that unions protect the labor force at large by forcing employers to follow work place rules and regulations and play a critical role in maintaining a middle class in this country. The absence of unions will allow corporations to again take advantage of workers and we'll revert back to the pre-union days. It's happening in countries like China by American corporations, so why wouldn’t it happen here as well?

Endangered Species

I remember being at the movies with friends, in particular being at the movies to see Dreamgirls. There were a group of African-American teenagers seated behind us and they were chattering consistently throughout the film and complaining about the number of songs…yes this was Dreamgirls...the musical. Just as Jennifer Hudson was about to belt out her rendition of “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going" one of them yelled out, “Oh God, I know she’s not going to sing another song” at which point I turned around told her to shut the hell up. The audience applauded as we had all had enough. Now I suppose if I was in the state of Florida I could have simply turned around and shot her and claimed self-defense utilizing the Stand Your Ground Law as she was invading my space and I felt threatened. It may sound ludicrous but this is exactly what’s happening in Florida where African-American teens are in danger of extinction.

Ok these are the facts of the case at hand. Imagine you’re out of town for a wedding and you pull into a gas station. Next to you is a group of loud obnoxious teenagers blasting their music. As you sit waiting for your girlfriend to return from the convenience store attached to the gas station you ask them to turn down their music and being typical teenagers they tell you to kiss their ass and turn it up louder. So you get into a heated argument with them reach into your glove compartment, get a gun and fire 8 to 9 shots into their vehicle killing one teenager. You don’t wait for the police you instead flee the scene, drive yourself and your girlfriend to a nearby hotel and go to sleep…after all it’s been a long day and murder does take its toll. The next day you see on the news that one of the teens did in fact die yet neither you nor your girlfriend attempt to file a police report and instead drive 160 miles home as if nothing has happened. The police track your license plates to your home and you’re arrested for murder and attempted murder. Two days after your arrest your attorney states she plans to use the Stand Your Ground Law as a defense as you now claim you saw a shotgun in the teenager’s vehicle, feared for your life and shot in self-defense. However, this claim is not included in the arresting police report, no firearms were found in the victim’s vehicle, no other shots were reported fired and no casings were found other than those of your gun.

Folks, bad manners and loud music are never an excuse for murder. Teenagers are rude by nature but their rude behavior should not be a sentence to death. If the teenagers I told to be quiet in the movie theater had chosen to get in an argument with me instead of being quiet I would have simply got an usher and had them removed. Instead of being the mature adult and either intelligently walking away or calling the police this John Wayne wannabe chose to shoot up the vehicle and its inhabitants like he was in Gunsmoke or The Wild, Wild West. So why is it ok to shoot up a group of African-American teenagers? What is it about him feeling threatened that would justify his acts? Did he fall back on stereotypes and assume that because they were young, Black and listening to hip-hop they were violent criminals carrying weapons? Or is it that for some people the mere existence of Black people can seem life threatening. And please don’t tell me race is not at issue. Would he have acted differently if he had pulled in and there were a group of loud white bikers blasting their music? You do not get to invoke the right of scared white guy to gun down Black people when you feel threatened. His actions and then retreating to the Stand Your Ground Law are merely a new form of legal lynching and some drastic action needs to be taken before it happens again. We should not have to be fearful for our children to be out alone at night, walking in the rain or pumping gas afraid that some pent up drunken racist nut may be out stalking Black kids.