A letter to the "Brotherhood"

A letter to the "Brotherhood" and to a dear friend.. brother Ed Michael.. Retired UP Locomotive Engineer... and a founding father of Railroad Workers United....(the guy in the red hat...)

I wrote this as a response to an article that a fellow railroader had posted about an issue of Gay rights on the railroad... I think stories are more effective than articles.. sometimes... I wrote a song about the story I tell below... i'll post it at the end of this blog... buy it.. it's a good one...wink wink...

Where the hell is her union?  Isn't it helping?

My mother died 2 years ago, but .. the local teachers union did not contact my mother or her partner, as far as I know… A large conversation in the USA at the time of my mother’s death,  was focused on Chic Fil A.. the question was… Can a business deny healthcare because of religious affiliation and faith?   I remember going into the locker room where I work and seeing a conservative feller I know who was eating “his” Chic Fil A.. I had been at the hospital all night… and was tired… I snapped…

 He is one of those “Republican railroaders” The kind that when the contract pertains to him.. the issue is front and foremost.. but “rights” and other issues.. of class.???. He is not so interested in thinking that others might enter into the conversation. Bring up guns and whether or not people should be punished.. sure you will get a passionate conversation… but he is what Upton Sinclair called.. a “Bootstrapper..”

Everyone has the same opportunity.. the “bootstrapper” religion is strong these days…

I told him that he was eating shit and told him that “his” Chic fil A was crap!  I told him about my dying gay mother and how I had a person in my life that was suffering… and how her partner was suffering from fear of losing her job…. and then asked him how his “Jesus” would feel knowing that a woman was going to lose her job for being by the side of a loved one.. suffering…. I almost got my ass whooped.. but I was pissed.. He for sure understood human rights, FMLA and Law. After my “freak out”… We are still friends.. mostly because I apologized days later for my “actions.”

While my mother was struggling in her last days.. a nurse…. (Who didn’t like my mother.. because she was gay and wore her Buddhist necklace proudly).. kept treating my mother like shit. She would make little comments here and there as she did her work. My family is very big.. and we all came together for my mother’s last days.. even my step family.. my step father and mother got involved in helping all of us out.  One nurse.. who was a lesbian too… demanded that she be the one who took my mother’s respirator off.. She had to fight with the hospital to come in on her off day.. so she could be there.. she won.. and the hospital let her come in on her day off.

On the last day.. my mother had had asked previously.. for me to stay and make sure she looked OK. Her mother had died of Cancer and she remembered as a kid.. seeing her mother after she had died.. laying in the hospital bed with her mouth and eyes wide open and hair all messed up..  She had also asked me to stay until everyone had left so I did what she had asked….She asked me to sing her favorite song before I left… Her favorite song was Bob Marley’s “don’t worry about a thing.. three little birds…”

After singing… I then said a little prayer.. and thanked God for me… being able to witness my mother’s last breath on this earth.. and suggested to God…. that she saw my first.. and that I had saw her last. And how my mother’s voice will live on in mine… I thanked the “Great Spirit” for the strength of my family.. and for my sisters and brothers.. all of them.. especially my “step brother and sisters”

After fixing my mother’s hair and saying some more words to her.. 

(I didn’t know that “the nurse” that had been being an asshole… was in the room.. behind a curtain doing paperwork. The whole time… that I had been singing and praying….)

and as I was getting ready to leave... The nurse peeped her head out of the curtain and scared me to death….and asked if I would stay for a minute. She then told me that she had just witnessed something profound.. our conversation went on for about 20 minutes at the foot of my mother’s death bed.. The nurse told me that she was a Christian.. and that she felt so sorry for being mean to my mom because she was a lesbian… this day and that conversation.. was probably THE most profound day of my life..  the nurse said that now she understood why people need rights.. and that her Jesus would never have allowed my mother’s partner to lose her job… she also talked about the LOVE that she witnessed.. the month.. my family basically lived in the ICU..

My mother was an activist.. she was always labeled too radical.. she was always pushing boundaries and taught me to fight for what I believe in.... sort of like what Jesus did… except that my mother was a Buddhist. Her honesty was deep. She was never afraid to tell someone her thoughts…… She was a fighter… My sister and I stood at the foot of her bed and .. when we knew she had taken her last breath.. my sister Karen.. jumped up and down and yelled… “ She won!!!” “She Won!!!”……… I asked my sister what she had won…. She said” That mom always wanted to die.. with her family and friends by her side” so.. my mother "Won" her battle against cancer…. With Respect and Dignity.. Love and Beauty!

So brother ED.. where is the union on many issues that are hard to talk about? Why do railroaders talk about PTI and other crew van haulers like they are “dogs”…. ??? Why are our unions allowing sub-contractors to cause serious stress on our Railroad Retirement.. Brother Ed, Where is the union? Most of the time?? Is the union “with” the congregation or “against” the congregation?

Brother Ed.. I have learned in 14 years of railroading.. that my “Brotherhood” could use a leader who is a lot like the Jesus that I was raised as a Christian to know.. A leader who is not afraid to take on serious social issues of race, poverty and human rights. A leader who passes on strength and love to the merry band… 

 A Leader who is not afraid to let others learn. A leader who is not afraid to give the power away freely.. to the flock…

We have a labor movement now.. that is playing too much politics. In my humble opinion.. pretty much a waste of time in this current climate. Our labor movement should be turning inward and empowering it’s members.. but it is not.. some leaders do.. most don’t… our "American" culture has become sick.. very sick.. from decades of greed and media re-tooling.. so…. I understand that re-tooling people to understand the importance of themselves.. opposed to corporate theft of public goods. Is a very hard job…. The call to the ballot box that our unions so desperately preach… is a waste of time.. the ballot box is not our box.. right now.. We unions should be doing the same things  Jesus suggested to the Church.. get money out of the “brotherhood”.. and back to where it belongs.. to the people.. power is in the people.. not in a political “FIX”….. at least not… yet….  I am not suggesting that we as a “Brotherhood” leave politics completely behind.. but I am suggesting a better way of “talking to people” Our Brothers… and Sisters in the “Brotherhood”

so all I can say.. is Brother… I hope my “Brotherhood” well.. but I fear for our future… the Railroads smell blood… and we might be “The Last Men Standing” but “United We Stand.. Divided We Fall…" I am from Kentucky you know.. that is our State Motto.... and 

“We are our Brothers (and Sisters) keepers” wink wink…

Solidarity Forever!!

JP Wright

BLET 78

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