This Labor Day, while my peers "win'in' down de place" and "hittin' de rum" (puncheon, anyt'ing!) on de Parkway in Brooklyn, we are reminded of the origin of this US federal holiday, the offspring of the working-class and organized unions. Ironically, the first parade also took place in New York City, in 1882.
Out of this working-class - the "backbone" of any progressive society - we have witnessed global "uprisings" and "movements", stemming from their struggle for workers' rights. Examples include the Civil Rights Movement and the Steelband Movement of Trinidad & Tobago, both of which have made significant advances in the sociopolitical arena. Both, however, are still very relevant today; perhaps even more so, as, in some instances, we have witnessed a deterioration of previous accomplishments, and a return of "old attitudes". As the saying goes: A LUTA CONTINUA! (The struggle continues...) The worker, from the Metro-Transit bus driver in NYC. to the steel panist in Trinidad, is still a second-class citizen, for all intent and purposes. Perhaps, third-class.
Today, we witness global uprisings, as the working-class continues in their struggle. In places like Egypt and Libya, lumpen-proletarian efforts are forcefully bestowing power (and freedom) to the (once powerless) masses. In this age of individualism and technology, it is easy for one to become self-absorbed in his (or her) own egotistical understanding of "making it". It is both a naivety and a tragedy to allow oneself to be fooled into believing anything other than: NO ONE IS FREE, UNTIL WE ARE ALL FREE. Hopefully, we, one day, can all mature to a level of conscious (sub-conscious, unconscious, etc.) "overstanding" that (TRUE) SUCCESS is not measured by the accomplishments we do by ourselves for ourselves; rather, by the things we do with others to benefit others, including ourselves.
In Ma'at (Truth).
George D. Goddard
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