I readily recall the 1950's growing up in East St. Louis, Illinois; my hometown from which I gained immeasurable family, religious and work ethic values. We were hard-working 'blue-collar' folks comprising a community that exemplified the American 'melting-pot' concept. Many neighborhoods were separated for reasons of first/second generation immigrant cultural likeness and language comfort. Overtime, we would observe great assimilation but unfortunately a degree of racial divide would always plague the city as it does our Nation. Those mistrusts coupled with corporate indifference and political corruption gave impetus to 'white-flight' and eventually 'rainbow-flight' of people seeking greater employment opportunities, better schools, a safer environment and community services outside East St. Louis.
Like many communities across our Nation, East St. Louis held special feelings for major holidays. Perhaps it speaks specifically to that river city's mentality when, we acknowledge the fact that the Labor Day holiday was right behind Christmas and Easter in significance and ahead of Thanksgiving. East St. Louis folks were 'united' when it came to solidarity issues of fair working wages, acceptable work conditions and retirement perks.
One must accept that the greatest contrast between 1950 and 2012, in our country is our spirit of togetherness in a quest or cause. A half-dozen years before 1950, we were a collective people making sacrifices as we engaged in a world war. We were 'united' in accomplishing a victory over what we perceived as evil. Post World War II, we were equally 'united' in pursing the American dream as individuals came together in an industrial boom to begin building a stronger more powerful and yet benevolent America. Today, we are a fractured people eager to point fingers of blame, more suspicious than ever about different ethnic 'looks' and ideologies. We are inundated with opposing political propaganda from less than fair-minded pundits. The quest for power and money continues to create a wider chasm in peoples' abilities to secure that 'American Dream.'
I close my eyes this Labor Day morning and see the masses of working class people marching proudly through the streets of East St. Louis as they made their way to Joneses Park where thousands would come together to salute and celebrate the laborer. I open my eyes to the reality of 'greed' from both the unions demanding the unrealistic and corporations squeezing the life-line of the working class. Together it has produced a sorry-ass slogan: "MADE IN CHINA!"
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