Folk Reporter... Mike Elk sits with JP Wright, Locomotive Engineer Folk Labor Musician
We may have coined the term, folk reporter for this episode of Words, Sound and Power, but what we are actually having is an experience. A real human interaction.
These days, that is a revolutionary action.
I live on the analog side of the digital divide. Pete Seeger was a folk musician, but he was also a reporter. His music was documenting a time of struggle. Woody Guthrie was a reporter, a field reporter. When Pete and Woody met? History was made and continues to be a source of inspiration for a new generation of artists, poets, writers and musicians.
Pete had another friend in the news room. Paul Robeson, and he had a motto.
"We who labor in the arts, we who are singers, we who are actors, we who are artists. We must remember that we come from the people, our strength comes from the people, and we must serve the people and be a part of them"
Mike and I wish in this meeting to add writers and reporters to that list.
In this episode of Words, Sound and Power. I got a chance to sit down to talk with Mike while he was traveling through Kentucky. He was on his way over to report on the USW local 7-669 lockout at the Honeywell.
"The USW local 7-669 has about 150 members at the Honeywell Plant in Metropolis, IL. Our plant processes uranium and we work around many extremely dangerous and deadly chemicals. Together, with the support of our community, we have the strength in numbers to stand up against their unconscionable corporate greed. We have no fear of raising ALL safety issues with Honeywell, OSHA, NRC, and the EPA. This helps the plant runs as safely as possible while protecting our members from unfair treatment. We are the guardians of safety."
http://usw7-669.com/
I wanted to talk to Mike about the term Folk Labor Reporter, but this conversation is like chasing a deer through the woods. We end up everywhere. Many folks are looking to internet crowd sourcing to fund their projects. A group of punk folk railroad friends of mine the RailYARD Ghosts traveled to Europe using this method. Non-profits and Labor groups are also using this new method of fundraising. So there.. Folks.. This is Indi- DIY whatever.. Folks helping out folks and showing support!!
Mike works the labor desk at POLITICO... and I am guessing, sort of like art and music in schools, its the first to get cut. Like the model that Superman was dealing with at the Daily Planet... they gotta sell papers... So how to get to Metropolis. But this time, it's real. In Illinois and he is broke. He has the Labor Reporter Blues.. so he turned to his supporters to fund the trip. His Labor Desk is on the road. Staying with supporters, getting to know the people and what they are dealing with.
Mike and I have a lot in common. His father is a long time United Electrical (UE) organizer, My Father is an IBEW union contractor. We both come from very union labor activist mindset families. My mother was an activist back in the UofL anti Apartheid days and worked closely with Anne Braden. While Mike was reporting on the UAW Volkswagen story in Tennessee, he mentioned that someone had mentioned a term : Braden Southern Organizer.. so...
When Mike arrived, I was sort of on break from a major national drive that my Railroad Workers United organization had completed. We fought back against a SMART union supported contract on the BNSF railroad that would have allowed for one operator trains in the USA. Kinda historical in nature. I wanted as any good host would, to give him a taste of Kentucky and my hometown of Louisville. I also wanted to show him directly what a Braden organizer was. Me. I also sat his ass in her chair at the Carl Braden Memorial Center, and in real highlander school fashion ...
we went to an Alan Lomax presentation of Eastern KY music and culture put on by a local musician who is the digital curator of the Lomax collection. Then we went to a party at an art warehouse where I got a chance to play music around a wonderful fire with some real rail hobo friends of mine who had hopped trains into town for the National Jugband Jubilee festival held yearly on the Ohio river. Mike got a chance to meet a real Anne Braden southern organizer, K.A Owens who is the Director of the KY Alliance, Anne Braden's legacy organization.
Y'all already know I'm a working Locomotive Engineer and that I am a delegate for my I.W.W Kentucky GMB.....but no! folks....
this is not some old history, or something that has happened way in the past. It is a Folk Labor Musician and a Folk Reporter becoming better friends.. Friends in the struggle trying to tell the people's story regardless of how many papers or CD downloads it sells.
Solidarity
J.P Wright
Louisville, KY
www.railroadmusic.org
P.S
Yes we drank Bourbon and went to White Castle.. I tried to warn him.. but that's the rest of the story...
