Prompted
by a recent discussion on a local Facebook page about feminism, I would like to
share a memory and some thoughts. When I was a little boy on the East Side of
Buffalo, I would get up early and sit on the stoop. The early morning was a
chorus of old women delivering washed and ironed laundry. Since I was so short then, my most vivid memory
was of swollen, edematous ankles along with bent over backs carrying large
wicker baskets up what must have been experienced as endless steps. They all
looked tired having been up all night laboring over washing machines, dryers
and ironing boards. But before that time, they were boiling water for wash basins and scrub boards. I suspect that the
scene in the Jamie Fox Ray Charles movie is quite accurate. Back then, pre-flaked laundry soap cost more, so many still used straight razors to slice off
flakes from laundry soap bars into the boiling water. Then one slapped the mixture, great for the
arthritic hands, “busting suds” until it was ready.
It’s
important for feminist scholars to document this history, as it is important to
document all the 1800’s male guano shovelers who died of respiratory illnesses
and were buried on desolate islands off the Pacific coast of South America.
John Henry and his cohort all died of silicosis of lung in their mid 30’s. When
I look back at the c. 1910 steel mills of my hometown I think of the immigrants
coming in the front door with the bodies coming out the back door. Many agents
collected 10 cents per worker door to door on payday for industrial (life)
insurance. From experience and study, I know what I know. But I wonder about and
often marvel at what others know and don’t know.
As
Joe Friday said: The facts, just the facts. Ideally, the truth sets us free.
But what also concerned me was why these women in my neighborhood had it so
hard. Certainly welfare was a sign of shame back then which they avoided, but
why had they no other income? It wasn’t until 1951 that Social Security was
extended to the self employed. WASPs and others that were judged acceptable to
work for the big corporations got Social Security, the ethnics did not. They
were the Polish, Czech, Italian, Greek, Jewish, etc shopkeepers and those in
various trades. Their widows did not have Social Security. That is a topic I
don’t find discussed, while collecting washer woman stories may earn a
doctorate today.
Presently, we face a populist versus globalist confrontation. The demographics of America have changed
dramatically since my wide eyes sat on that stoop. It’s probably safe to assume
that the old WASP upper class still exits, is globalist and are backers of the
Republican Party RINOs. The new high tech robber barons are a diverse, polyglot
crew. But they are infamous concerning the global warming fraud, labeling the
truth about Islam as hate speech and many other issues. And while their products and style are global
in reach, they are adept at exploiting the tax differences between countries. As for almost everyone else in America, and
those without a group identity, I ponder their shifting positions within this
increasing polarization.
PS:
When I was a little boy I was considered rich because I got a new pair of
sneakers for the summer. Most children went barefoot. I can’t understand those who think that subsidy
programs with higher taxes can substitute for economic growth.
Copyright
2018, Mark L. Bennett
