Wow, Chris! Congratulations! - C
--- In SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Hayden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Maybe an artist can help labor get back in touch with working people > By Sylvester Brown Jr. > ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH > 08/30/2007 > > > It's a question local playwright and poet Chris Hayden will attempt > to answer Friday. > > Hayden's two-act play, "Songs of Solidarity; Voices of Social > Justice," is the centerpiece of the annual "Bread & Roses" > celebration hosted by Jobs with Justice (JWJ), a coalition of area > labor unions, and community, student and religious groups. > > The actors in Hayden's play will assume the roles of A. Philip > Randolph, founder of the first black labor union; Philip Vera Cruz, > Filipino-American co-founder of the Agricultural Workers Organizing > Committee; Russell Means, an activist for American Indians rights; > Cesar Chavez, the Mexican-American labor and civil rights leader; and > Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones), the socialist and labor and > community organizer. Cruz and Chavez are portrayed as women in the > play because women, Hayden writes, are "the majority of the work > force and population." > > I'm a fan of his work and reviewed Hayden's script for the play. > Hayden employs his trademark sing-song, street slang to add spice to > the dialect: > > "Folks forget who they are, where they came from and who put them > there," says the Mother Jones character, as she chides those who have > abandoned the labor movement. "They start hanging with the big boys, > riding in the limo, drinking they whiskey, playing golf, smoking they > cigars Next thing, they are finking and showing the bosses how to > bust the union." > > It's "absolutely necessary" to fight for the survival of unions, says > Stewart, the Postal Workers Union's president. "With the > consolidation of wealth and mega-mergers on the horizon, the only way > workers can fight for their fair share is through organizing." > > Lara Granich, JWJ's director, said the Bread & Roses event, now in > its fifth year, reminds people of the arts in political action and in > workers' lives. > > "We're organizing in difficult times. The poetry, theater and > paintings that comes out of Bread & Roses infuses us with the energy > we need to keep moving forward." > > Some of the work of previous "Bread & Roses" participants has been > incorporated into "social justice actions," Granich explained. A > banner created by Sammie Rives, an area janitor and union member, has > been used at justice rallies and displayed when janitors voted on a > recent contract. "This is What Democracy Looks Like," a painting by > Dennis DeToye, former Edwardsville mayor, art teacher and union > member, was turned into get-out-the-vote posters and used countrywide > during the 2004 elections. > > Labor's future is in the hands of young people, said Stewart. If art > and culture remind anyone of organized labor's dignified history and > the need for future organizing, "it's a plus," he said. > > Hayden hopes his words, shared through labor workers of the past, > will spark action in the present. His character, Mother Jones, > addresses this in the play: > > "Poetry is nice I'll say it twice. But sometimes the profoundest > truths are stated in the plainest words. In the plain language of > the working folk." > > For more information about the upcoming "Bread & Roses" event, visit: > www.stl-jwj.org. >
