The story of "Newsies" shows how we've regressed since the Turn of the Century
Ruined our state? No worries
Yet another in the long, long list of Bible verses with which the Christian Right is apparently unfamiliar is 1 Timothy 5:8: "And the laborer IS worthy of his reward" (KJV).
The thousands of protesters who made the Wisconsin Capitol building their home for weeks in 2011 were protesting Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting budget repair bill. Much of the nation called the protesters "deadbeats" and "slackers," and blamed unions for destroying company profits.
As these things go today, the protesters were proven right. The quality of Wisconsin schools has fallen, and the state is dead last in wage growth and job creation.
Yet Walker, apparently unblemished, recently announced his plan to run for a third term.
Tonight I saw "Newsies," a Disney film straight from the Broadway musical*. It was joyous and devastating at the same time. As a displaced journalist (and someone who wishes she knew less about history and politics than she does), I kept thinking, "Americans have no clue what we have lost."
Newsboys' strike happened at just the right time
"Newsies" is based on the true story of the Newsboys' Strike of 1899, which, lucky for them, happened just as the nation was becoming disgusted by Victorian excess, and embracing Progressivism.
Although the kids in the production dance and sing their way through the story, the real newsies would have been too exhausted and malnourished to do so. Most were homeless orphans, and eked out just enough income to survive.
When William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer raised the cost of their daily "pape" bundles a dime, the kids said, "To hell with this." In an unprecedented action, all the newsboys in the Borroughs of New York went on strike for two weeks, literally "Stopping 'The World.'"
The event caught the attention of social reformers at the time. (The historic photo is of the actual boys who organized the strike.)
Through the looking-glass
To realize how things have changed, my namesake - William Jennings Bryan, a Democrat and Fundamentalist Christian - ran for President against Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, in 1900. Both were Progressives, and both ran on platforms of raising wages, improving work safety, and protecting children from adult labor. Crazy, huh?
Today, a huge number of Americans have fallen for the narrative that businesses are struggling under the weight of greedy unions.
To be sure, some reform needed to take place. But in a reality where the average wage (adjusted) is the same as in 1979 - and the average CEO has gone from an income 50x that of his workers up to 500x and more - it's reeeeeealy hard to understand how we've come to accept this narrative.
Now we live in Oppositeland, where Americans would not be rooting on the dirty, shoeless 10-year-old ragamuffins who sometimes supported a family. They would be rooting for Hearst and Pullizer, men so wealthy they had no limits on their desires.
And the Trump Evangelicals would be throwing stones at the kids, saying, "Get back to work! Nobody gets a free ride! This is America, damn it!"
Beliefs have consequences
But attitudes are one thing. The RESULTS of those attitudes are another.
Does anyone recall that people used to look at Turn-of-the-Century photos of children in factories and coal mines and say, "Thank goodness those days are behind us?"
But they're not. Not anymore. A strong movement exists to roll back child labor laws. Newt Gingrich, Paul La Page, and Mike Lee are among those in the GOP who have proposed loosening child labor laws, or eliminating them altogether.
The new so-called "Education Secretary," Betsy DuVois, and her family have donated thousands of dollars to The Action Institute, a Christian organization that proposes children be given a choice whether to attend K-12 school or work instead (effectively ending the possibility that child could attain a higher education and rise above her current economic level).
The founder has written on his blog that the group does not want to bring back the bad old days, but the group's goals would do just that.
The group's website says:
“Let us not just teach our children to play hard and study well... A long day’s work and a load of sweat have plenty to teach as well.
"Child labor is a gift our kids can handle."
It's worse than you think
Let me be crystal clear:
Three years ago, I heard a radio interview of a Congressman who endorsed this view. Unfortunately, I cannot recall his name, but I recall what he said because I literally froze.
He wasn't talking about allowing 14-year-olds to take paid work in fields they were interested in. No. He was talking about testing children's intellectual capabilities in first or second grade, and putting those who weren't stellar students onto a different track, where they would actually be working in factories and other blue-collar positions.
Further education would be unnecessary for these kids anyway, since they wouldn't grow up to become rocket scientists, he chuckled. And I distinctly remember feeling sick to my stomach when he mentioned how helpful the fingers of a small child can be with certain equipment.
When exactly did we lose our fucking minds?
Now that everything's fixed, who needs unions?
In addition to the issue of child labor, "Newsies" should be a reminder of why we needed unions in the first place.
My father was a proud member of IATSE for 50 years. Thanks to this union for film, theater and lighting workers, film that used to routinely burst into flames and kill projectionists was replaced with the flame-retardant kind. Thanks to IATSE, I enjoyed a middle-class upbringing, and my father enjoyed a retirement worth being alive for.
Today, union membership is lower than it's been in almost 100 years. But we really don't need unions anymore, do we? We've straightened out a lot of problems, haven't we?
Well, no. If you think unions have no impact, check out this chart from the Economic Policy Institute, showing the correlation between union membership and middle-class incomes since 1967. (But you have no interest in better wages, do you?)
The current administration has its eyes on scads of work safety regulations it wants to roll back. Think of it! Maybe if we're lucky, we'll get to see another Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire! The sight of workers leaping out of windows to their deaths will be awesome on YouTube!
And then there is the issue of your employer being an asshole. In 2014, I was made redundant from Capital Newspapers (non-union). Capital Newspapers is owned by Lee Enterprises, publisher of 44 newspapers across the country.
October 31, 2008 - just weeks after the mortgage crash - was the day my entire life changed. I'd had two promotions that year, Lee's most profitable year ever. I felt secure about my future.
Because it was Halloween, employees were dressed as witches and ghosts. I was a black cat. Suddenly we were called into a staff meeting, where we were hastily informed Lee had filed bankruptcy an hour before, and layoffs at our facility would begin that day. The scene was surreal, with skeletons and devils and monsters screaming at the publisher.
I managed to survive until 2014, but I sure did see some shit go down. The most disturbing: at Christmas 2010, Lee broke a written contract with former employees of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Those who had retired between 2004 and 2010 were informed their medical coverage was being eliminated entirely.
AFTER THEY HAD RETIRED.
The St. Louis Newspaper Guild said Lee had "Prove(d) once more ...that it has no heart, or company spirit."
But surely, that must have been a hard decision for Lee. The company must have been skin and bones to do something so drastic. Right?
Well, there's this: Between January and September 2012, Lee hemmoraged $35.8 million and scores of employees.
However, Mary Junck, Lee's CEO, had a fantabulous year. Her compensation increased 82%, for a total of $2,093,267.
Now I do realize that $2,093,267 does not go nearly as far as it used to; I am certain Mary struggles as much we who lost our jobs.
But I'm thinking she probably has a roof over head, and if she had appendicitis, she wouldn't think twice about going to a doctor - which is more than can be said for many of us.
From the depths of hell, looking up
When the real "Newsies" happened, life was hard. There is no denying the terrible conditions in which the poor survived day-to-day, especially in New York.
I've studied the period extensively, and I have no illusions about it. But if I had an opportunity to live then or now, I'd go back to 1899 in a heartbeat.
Travails are easier to handle when one has a vision of something better on the horizon. Even those in poverty thought of America as the land of opportunity. They were here because they wanted, and expected, a better life for their children. And for generations, it happened.
That's because people recognized that America could not be a great nation if Americans didn't have some quality of life. Human lives were worth the financial investment.
Now, after a 40-year slide downward, the United States (and particularly those Evangelicals who have thrown out Jesus and The Beatitudes like yesterday's garbage) have elected an administration that will roll back time and progress in dozens of areas.
And these trevails will be worse, because the trajectory is now going in the opposite direction. Hope is no longer in view.
We thought we deserved better. Sometimes, we got it
"Newsies" is about a time in history when workers bravely said, "Hell no. We deserve respect." And despite a Great Depression, life did keep getting better, for a century.
Americans have just experienced a year-long campaign in which candidates SAID they would deeply wound Medicare and Social Security; ADMITTED they would not provide life-saving medical care for the poor, disabled and elderly; EXPLAINED that they would defund public schools and privatize national parks; and possibly even LOWER the minimum wage.
And Americans responded,"Yeah, whatever. Sounds good to us."
WHAT THE HELL, AMERICA! Do you have a CLUE of the diamond you are giving away?
Oh, yes, we're broke. In fact, we're SO broke, #52 is giving $7.2 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest of the wealthy ... and raising taxes on the middle class. YOU!!
It was all out there. You did it anyway.
Why? When did you lose faith that America was capable of positive change?
Schadenfreude is for the priviledged
I wish I could laugh as Trump voters lose their Medicare and Social Security. But schadenfreude is for the priviledged, and I'll be sinking right down with you. It won't be so funny.
Where is a cheeky Kid Blink when you need one? Somebody who says, I work hard, I deserve what's due me, and you can't take it away? Because this is America?
We could sure use him today.
~Teresa Bryan Peneguy
* CLARIFICATION>
Several people have mentioned that the film came out before the musical. I apologize for my lack of clarity - this piece is about a brand new film.
1992: Disney released the film “Newsies." It was a traditional musical movie, filmed outdoors, or on lots made to look like they were outdoors.
2011: The Broadwsy theatrical production, “Newsies the Musical,” began its run.
2017: Disney released the film “Disney’s Newsies, the Broadway Musical” in February. It is currently on limited run in select cities. It was filmed indoors, on stage at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, CA. This is the film I just saw.
T
