The John Mason Talk-Walk, September 1, 2023

I speak about celebrating Labor Day, and of the need to combat racism, anti-Semitism, and LGBTQ+phobia. 

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SPEAKER_00 1:09

Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, John Mason. How is everybody? I hope you're all doing well. Well, this Monday is Labor Day. It's the day in this country where we commemorate the working men and women who are the real engines of American prosperity, who are the real drivers of the economy, and who do the work that make that would that made our country wealthy and prosperous. They did it, we did it all, the working people, and not these billionaires. Some of the old history books I remember as a kid had the um had these captains of industries as the great entrepreneurs who uh who uh dominated the economy. And they did accrue billions of dollars. I'm thinking about the Carnegie, the Rockefellers, the Melons, the JP Morgan's, all those. The Vanderbilts. But if it wasn't for millions of uh homeborn and immigrant labor, some enslaved, uh some living close to slavery, working about sixteen hours a week in in toxic coal mines, in textile mills and steel factories. Those are the ones who got the job done. Without these workers, these captains of industry would be nothing. As far as I'm concerned, they are nothing. And so we we have to commemorate us ourselves, the working people of this country. And I am also active in reviving May Day as a workers' holiday in this country. I remember the old uh stories uh scare about May Day being a commie uh holiday, uh troops goose stepping down Red Square in front of Lenin's tomb. But it has origins in this country and the struggles by the Knights of Labor for the eight hour day and the hay market incident. Please please look these uh little morsels of labor history up. Let's learn our history the real history and not this history that you put are put up by insurance companies for under fi for 50 seconds. Anyway, we can have both May Day and Labor Day. We're worthy of it. We deserve it. And just as deserving is are the workers at the Teamsters working for UPS. Just a few days before a strike was to erupt, UPS made an agreement with the Teamsters. Bravo. And now upcoming is the possibility of a strike by UAW against the three big automakers, Chrysler and Ford and General Motors. Let's back them up. And the strike activ strikes is still going on by SAGAFTRA and the Writers Guild against the movie industry and TV and the studios, all that. Let's back them up. And the ongoing struggles for organizing as organizing the workers at Starbucks and Amazon and Trader Joe's. Let's back them up. Have every confidence they'll be showing up for the parade Monday. And let's all labor support our brothers and sisters, whatever the activity is. Whatever the industry is, whatever the work site is. And any labor movement, like every other organization, decent organization in this country, must also take on the the dangerous festering sore of racism in that has contaminated this country. I'm thinking about the the son of a bitch who uh who went into an a uh a Dollar General in in Jacksonville and were deliberately hunting for black people to kill. He killed three of them, may their memory be a blessing, before he turned a gun on himself. Before his his shooting up his shooting at the Dollar General, he went to a nearby African American university, a historically black college and university. And he was he was told to leave by the by the college's librarian. And they and the police got into his laptop and found such terrible neo-Nazi racist screeds. Let's make it clear. In spite of Ron DeSantis and all his wannabes, whiny about woke, whatever, however they define it, and critical race theory, which they don't know they don't know a damn thing about. Let's band together and resist this with the help of our unions and our neighborhood organizations and our houses of worship, our fraternal societies, our ladies' knitting clubs, what have you. Let's band together and make America wonderful good for everybody. Good for workers, good for people of color, good for sexual minorities. That's it for now. And now advertisements. These podcasts, and I want to be able to expand it further. Take it to take them to another level. So therefore, I ask for donations. On my website, johnomason.com, I have a link to my PayPal. Please, if you can if you can donate, that would be great. And also my novel, Soldier of the Cross. It's the story of David Lucas, who as a young man in the early 60s is a drunk and a whore chaser and a school bully. He gets in trouble in the army, comes out of the army a born-again Christian, and tries to be a manly, dedicated, fanatical man for Jesus. But he goes about it the wrong way and it leads him to disaster. That's all I'm gonna say about SoldierofThecross on Amazon.com. And also, Himperific Hemporific is a lovely little lovely little CBD product store located on Snyder Avenue near it near 15th Street in South Philadelphia. There you'll find some of the finest cannabis-infused products. Flour and gummies and candies and drinks and teas and hand sanitizer and lip balm and dog treats. Yep, dog treats. Look them up please. Hamporificlc.com. And also my beloved career and business coach Michelle Snow. Michelle is excellent in helping you navigate and expand your professional career or a small business. Let you know what you're doing right, where you need work, and help you network with other up-and-coming entrepreneurs and professionals. Please do please look her up. Growwithsnow.com. Okay. Okay. That's it for now. Gotta get ready for the um for the weekend, and the high holy days are upon us. Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippur. And I bid everybody within the sound of my podcast a happy, sweet, and joyous new year. Okay then. I'll be fresh for the fight come Tuesday. Okay. Have a good weekend, Shabbat Shalom. Bye. Bye.