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Assuming you were old enough on that date to count money, to reckon with daily nutrition, and to have a place to call home--well, time to reminisce. If you are younger than 21 now, perhaps you supplement history lessons with conversation with those who were there.At that time I was in training for a new career. I saw that being a full charge bookkeeper was a ticket to pink slips. Community colleges had no programs to teach computer programming. Since i passed an aptitude test, I was hired as a trainee by a mail order firm. Living in Chicago kept me from being surprised that their employees were 95% black. The Civil Rights Movement was well into its program. So on April 5, our company had some planning to do. My schedule, already in place, had me lined up to go directly to the Loop, where there was a class on some new device that we might want to use. Riding the El, I could see that the fires of the previous night were no longer burning. Downtown there were fewer workers but a number of National Guard stood at the ready. Later I learned that back at the office all employees had a no fault excuse from checking in, based on personal welfare.
Labor unions were part of Chicago's culture. At that time our company was facing what other cities had already experienced--Urban Renewal. As beltways to Interstates were finished city businesses fled to suburbs. In the ten years since Dr. King was assassinated, jobs in private corporations impacted Chicagoans--especially those in manufacturing and even more so for black workers who had a transportation problem.
My husband and I held out for those ten years. His job in manufacturing showed signs of Rust Belt erosion. I, happily, taught at for-profit Computer institutes. We were of an age where it was better to call it quits. So we moved south, bought a fixer upper and raced the clock as inflation surged, Growing our own vegetables, driving an older car, and practicing "wellness" kept us afloat until we were due for Medicare. Healthcare insurance was a touchy problem.
At this stage in life--after selling the house and moving to a Seniors Tower--I experience the mood of the country through online news and the strife of my local friends. Of course "Madison" resonates with me. On the one hand Barbara Jordan's voice during the 1974 congressional hearings over a Watergate impeachment still rings in my ears. And now there comes a pageant at Wisconsin's state Capitol. At the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination I hear his warning. Garbage handlers deserve to be remembered for their work, on payday, and at the voting booth.
As an adoptive Tennessean (34 years in October) I see the continuing struggle for the human condition. Yes, I'm better off. I have Social Security and Medicare. It is incomprehensible to me that anyone believes we would better off without it. Where would Seniors go?
