Eternal Virtues

John Parkson drove the tip of his boot into the wooden floor beneath him, amusing himself as he watched the rotting wood dissolve into a fine dust that coated his foot. A heavy scent of mildew and an overwhelming humidity were the daily troubles of his job as a boatman on the riverways of Virginia, a thankless task that paid just enough to get him by. Still, he didn't do the job so much for the money as much as for the freedom. His daily journeys, back and forth along varying trading and travel posts, allowed him the chance to see the world in a way few of his fellow former colonials could. He considered himself a learned man, in a way that the educated of the world might not expect. After all, the traveling he did gave him a chance to run into all sorts of people. He might have been born into the backwoods of the state, but his traveling exposed him to all sorts of philosophy and propaganda. Every day he heard the rhetoric that echoed of the Revolution, about how all men were created equal and each man had a chance for success in this new country of theirs. Still, all that took on a different perspective the day he began to work with Elwood Hargrove, a black boatman employed by his owner to work the riverways and earn some extra income for their plantation.

*****

He hadn't heard the quote, but Juan Martinez knew, vaguely, what had been said. It had been parroted on a few news channels over the past few weeks, and the gist of it was that one of the Republican candidates had suggested building an electric fence along the border with Mexico.  Juan didn't consider himself very political, and the truth was that he supported a restriction on immigration. His own family had come from Mexico two generations before, but they'd always been in support of legal immigration. They somewhat resented the waves of illegal immigrants that came to the United States and avoided the same tasks their grandmother, matriarch of the family, had endured to gain citizenship. All the same, life was sacred, and you didn't joke about killing immigrants. He wondered if these politicians knew just how harsh life was for illegals trying to cross over, about the rape women endured and the men who got killed moving across the border. Life wasn't easy if you were coming over illegally, and joking about their deaths was silly, given the reality of how harsh their lives were.

His family had always voted Republican but, given the candidates that he was faced with, Juan was increasingly finding it difficult to support anybody on the conservative side. Every time he heard Mexicans talked about like animals, like they were dogs that needed to be trained properly, he was disgusted. It just wasn't right that his people were treated so badly.

*****

Joseph Martin sighed, listening to the comments coming over the television. There had been a debate the other night, and the Republicans had been talking about welfare and Medicare. Martin had an invested interest in the discussion. He was the son of a contractor and had gone into the same work himself, spending most of his life working on houses, working on floors and walls. It wasn't easy work, but it was what he loved, what his father had shown him to do. There were downsides to the work, though.

First of all, never in his life had Martin had adequate healthcare. He'd spent a lifetime avoiding going to the doctor, waiting out pains he'd feel in his back or arms, buying whatever generic medicine he could afford whenever he'd gotten sick. He'd spent even less time at the dentist than he had at the doctor over his thirty years, and while he'd gotten along well enough, he'd always worried what would happen if something catastrophic happened to him or his family. He and his wife had just had a child, and every day he prayed the baby would be healthy and happy. Church members contributed to taking care of it when he and his wife worked the same days, she at her job waiting tables at a local diner, while he tiled or did roofwork.

The biggest problem, though, was that the housing market had gone into collapse, and had only slowly been recovering. Every time he heard these candidates talking about makers versus takers, he couldn't help but think, <em>I am a maker.</em> He was, he helped make houses. Somehow, though, he didn't think that the Republicans were thinking about him when they got into these sorts of debates.

*****

Jackie McMahon shook her head as she listened to the podcast airing over computer's speakers, sitting in her office on the top floor of a corporate tower where her office was located. She'd spent an entire morning dealing with her hair, which had always been too thick and unruly for its own good and required a combination of chemical agents to straighten, a process she'd never been happy with but had been forced to acknowledge as necessary. Her mother had always been an advocate for letting her hair grow out naturally, but Jackie preferred a straight, sleek look as opposed to the thick bush of hair it could become if she let it come out the way nature intended.

It was a difference of generations. Her mother had been an activist in the 70s, at the same time an advocate for Black Pride as well as feminism. Jackie wasn't nearly as extreme but like most African Americans, she shuddered when she heard the way black Americans were discussed. It didn't take much searching on twitter to see references to Obama as the "N" word, and one time, during a trip to a small town in Texas to visit her grandmother, she'd overheard a few men at the local gas station refer to him as a monkey.

She wondered if they knew she could have probably bought that gas station outright. She'd spent a lot of time building the capital and finances to strike out on her own as a financial manager, and from her Dallas office she dealt with influential clientele that brought her significant economic gains. In theory, she might have made the perfect Republican, someone with income about 250,000 who would probably like to avoid being taxed. Still, every time she heard her people referred to as lazy, or takers, or animals, she shuddered. Just as importantly, she remembered what it was to struggle. Yeah, race was an issue, but there were a lot of people out there struggling. They didn't just have black skin. They were Asian, hispanic, white, and every other sort of ethnicity under the sun. Nobody had an exclusive claim to poverty.

*****

Elwood Hargrove chuckled slightly, looking out over the river that wound its way past their trade station. From here they unloaded the ferries and moved the goods into town, where merchants would sell it off for profit. "It's one of my favorite things about this job," he explained to John Parkson, his hands tucking into his pockets. "You see, plantation work is hard, but I'd work it just as hard as any other man. Except, my soul likes to fly. It's like a bird, you know? I can't live without the feeling of being on the go."

John Parkson smiled, looking over at the young negro, a man no older than himself. "Funny you say that. I'm the same way, actually. I've never felt it was a good thing for a man to be tied down too much."

"I hear that. You know, it's like I've always said. My body might be a slave to somebody else, but there's nobody that can make a slave of my mind. Getting up and down these rivers, I see and hear so many things that other people could never imagine. Everyone talks about the Revolution well, I get to read it. I get to listen to it. You know we had some Frenchmen here at the post not too long ago, you remember them?"

"Yeah, I do actually. Funny accents, I was a little surprised they even spoke English."

"Oh, French people speak it. Important for making money, same as English people have to learn French. You know Thomas Jefferson, he loved spending time in France."

"I heard about that. I hear he spends a lot of time over there."

"Yeah, French have the same ideas about freedom that America does. At least it sounds that way. Those Frenchmen, they were asking how I could live in a country that claims all men are born equal, and yet be a slave. I didn't really have much of an answer for that."

John sighed, eyes floating downriver to the horizon. "Nobody's equal, much as we'd like to talk about it. You know, you might be a slave, but I figure we probably take home about the same amount of money. You might have to give your money to your master, but I've got to give mine to the taxman."

Elwood smiled. "That's a damn shame. We really are equal, just not in the way you might hope for."

*****

When Juan Martinez went to the booth to vote, he had a decision to make. Vote the way his family had always voted, or vote Democrat. It did really bother him to no end that Mexicans were disparaged relentlessly in the Republican debates, but in the end, as he stood there, another factor came into play. His hand slid into his pocket, fingers wrapping around a few loose coins there. Juan considered himself a decent man. A mid level human resources manager at a telephone company, he thoroughly enjoyed the work he did. He never thought he'd be rich, but he'd always imagined that, as a part of the middle class, he'd be able to provide adequately for his family. He dreamed of sending any future child he might have onto a good college, and give them the opportunities he'd never had. Maybe the fourth generation of Martinez kids would be the ones that struck gold for the family.

College was getting expensive though, and he kept hearing Mitt Romney's voice in his head, when he'd told one girl that the best solution to keeping college costs down was to shop around. Another time, he'd suggested borrowing money from parents in order to start up a business. Martinez laughed, a quiet laugh to respect the voters in the booths next to him, but a laugh nonetheless. He'd never be able to loan tens of thousands of dollars to any child he might have, and all colleges were getting increasingly expensive these days. Even community colleges were raising rates, so he wasn't sure what good shopping around would do. He didn't want his children going into heavy debt just to get an education.

So, as he looked at the ballot in front of him, he did something his parents probably never would have imagined doing themselves. He punched Democrat. He stepped out into the cool air, eyes flickering out to the mountains that hovered around Denver. He certainly had no regrets about his decision.

*****

Joseph Martin stood in line at the local polling station, shocked by the huge turnout. He'd arrived at ten that morning because, quite frankly, he'd been unable to find work that week. So here he was, in line, waiting to vote. As he thought on all the problems his family was facing, he just couldn't imagine voting Republican. Obamacare promised a chance to get some decent healthcare. Republicans had been talking about repealing and replacing, but they'd never given any details about what they'd replace the program with. Mitt Romney had said that the United States gave adequate medical care because you could use an emergency room. Martin wasn't sure he understood what poor medical coverage that made, or how that caused medical costs to skyrocket.

At least Obamacare expanded the coverage and allowed for exchanges where he could, hopefully, find something to help his family. As medical care currently existed, he had no chance to afford a medical plan. So, eyes locked on the doors that were still at least an hour away, he tucked himself into his jacket, lowering the 76ers cap he had lower onto his head and sealing his hands into his pockets. He wasn't voting for a handout, here. He was voting for some help for his family.

*****

Jackie McMahon decided to watch election night at an office party she had sponsored. Her boyfriend, a young Asian tailor who made a living fashioning shirts and suits, was scheduled to arrive soon. She was hoping sooner than later. As she watched the election results at about nine that night, it was already looking bad for Romney. Yeah, he was ahead in the electoral votes in a few states, but non of the predictive polling looked like he was going to grab many of the swing states.

She'd voted early. She could afford to, given her status and position. It was unfortunate that the Republicans had gone to such length to try and restrict early voting. You know who that affected most? The poor, students, minorities. At one point or another, her mother had been all of those. Jackie hadn't had it as bad, but she'd still know poverty. Her college education, something her mother had saved and struggled to buy for her, had been the key to Jackie's success. If she decided to have children, they wouldn't have to worry about going to a good school. Still, she couldn't in good conscience vote for people that had made voting a struggle. Her own family came from a background of people that had fought for the right to vote, and to find equality. Jackie wanted to pass that along.

*****

As John Parkson and Elwood Hargrove sat on the pier, watching the sun drop in the distance, they silently acknowledged they'd be doing no business that day. The boats had been slow in coming, so soon, they'd be retiring to the beds they kept in the trading station.

"Never thought I'd be sharing room with a white man, to be honest," Elwood said, hands crossed in front of him. "Of course, that's natural, considering where I come from."

"Guess it's the same for me. I didn't ever think about it, but I can't say it bothers me, to be honest. We're both in the same boat." He chuckled, reflecting on the pun. "Yeah, you and me Elwood, we've both got some of the same problems. Can't say I envy what you go through though."

"Hey you know, it is what it is. I've got it better than some, and some have got it better than others. You might have it better than me, but we're both struggling just to make ends meet. Seems like we're both equal in that regard."

"Yeah you know, they might say all men are created equal, but you have to find where you're equal. You have to work for someone else. I don't, but if I don't, I'm not going to survive long. Not sure how much of a choice that is."

Elwood sighed, leaning back, hands resting on the rough surface of the dock. He looked far into the distance, onto the dimming skies. "Not sure what this country's going to look like in a hundred years. Even if all the races were equal, people still wouldn't be. It's a class thing, not a race thing. Men talk a good game about how we're all equal, but there's always going to be one group of them that wants to rule over the other, doesn't matter if it's a slave or a worker. So people like you and me, we've got to stick together."

John Parkson shook his head, clambering up onto his feet. "It's getting late. I know you have to be as hungry as I am, unless you've been sneaking food while I haven't been looking."

Elwood turned slightly, looking up at his friend. "If you're offering to make a meal, I think I'll accept."

The Long, Sad Story of Teamsters Local 657

It's 8:30 in the morning and I'm driving through the King William's District of San Antonio. I'm on my way to a meeting of the minds, by which I mean I'm bringing my mind to teach at the local high school. The radio is playing its normal medley of trash rock and rap, but in my sublime morning state, fresh from waking up, it might as well be the summit of musical genius. It's one of those early days when the sun is still peaking over the edges of clouds piled high in inviting layers of blue and white. In short, it is a beautiful way to start off, one only spoiled by the row of somber looking individuals standing alongside the long road leading past Pioneer Flour Mill. Hands clutched about signs saying "Teamsters Local 657", they form a motley band of men and women on whom this beautiful morning is most certainly lost.

The King William's District is among the oldest and most renowned areas in San Antonio. As a consequence, it is also inhabited by some of the wealthier individuals in the city. Houses here go for more money than many people will make in a few years, and no wonder. Some of these buildings have histories so long they predate my own grandmother. Picturesque homes stolen from the frames of portraits sit alongside the lazy San Antonio River, its calm waters drifting away toward downtown San Antonio, whose towers scrape like fingertips at the blue sky above.

The whirring of bicycles is not uncommon, as the healthy and active whiz by on their daily routines. All through the air, a sweet fragrance pricks at one's nostrils, a memorable aroma ignited by the endless flower bushes that line the streets. This truly is one of the most memorable sections of the city, a place created by a confluence of history and modern efforts to restore the old place's glory. Mixtures of guitars, saxophones and pianos can often be heard swimming by as musicians gather at the local Blustar Art Complex, one of the centers of modern San Antonio's artistic community.
And rising above it all, the lord of the land, the great tower of Pioneer Flour Mill. For more than a century, this place has churned out the flour that has enriched its owners and created a name for the Guenther family. From its infancy as a small flour mill on the banks of the nearby river to its modern standing as a flour producing powerhouse, Pioneer Flour has outlasted many of its contemporaries. An old man of the city, its two hundred year birthday just over a coming thirty year horizon, it has seen employees come and go and its own business inflate. Far from creating mere flour, the hands of Pioneer stretch to other parts of the globe. From its bakeries in the UK, Belgium and the U.S. it has served to produce dozens of food products people consume each day.

It's a strange thing. Week to week, people pass by the place. They wander about, touring, enjoying the sights of the old houses. They meander along, off to look at the art and listen to the music touted at the Bluestar. Or, they head to Pioneer itself, to the Guenther House that rests cozily in its shadow. There, they enjoy the fine dining experience. If you're of the mind to, you can even enjoy the food and company there while celebrating on New Year's Eve.

With so much success, and in such a beloved area of the city, everything might seem perfect in the King William's District. Still, there is an outcry. Small, almost feeble, it still shouts. It breaks the serenity of the area, often unheard, but never ceasing. It is the voice of Teamsters Local 657.

*
When I drive by, occupied by thoughts of what my students might be like that day, wondering if they'll be able to snap from their high school dramatics long enough to listen to a history lesson, I barely catch a glimpse of them. To my mind, they may as well be a line for the local bus stop, or a group of day laborers hoping for employment. The uneven streets beneath my car rattle my cup of coffee, sending me into a desperate attempt to still it before it stains the nearby passenger seat.
I'm successful, my vehicle rolling on, but I have just enough time to see that line from the corner of my eye. Innocuous enough, certainly unremarkable, the group passes from my mind. After all, there's no time to wonder about strangers on the sidewalk when a small platoon of high school students, armed with rap lyrics, love interests and foul language are readying themselves to attack.

If they had only been there a day, I might not have thought about it again. However, another day rolls along, and on yet another day I fail to take any real notice of them. Still new to this area, I'm too busy simply trying to navigate my way through the streets of the old city to really invest in the sights. Perhaps they're simply waiting to get into the nearby factory, I muse, my eyes glancing just slightly upwards at the looming Pioneer tower. This ritual repeats, day to day, and I almost never really take the time to see them. In fact, it would not be my eyes that finally snapped me into paying intention.

No, instead it was a honk. Two beeps, as a dilapidated pickup truck bounces along the street, heading my way. I look over in annoyance, wondering exactly what it is he's honking at. Is he warning me of a cop? Perhaps one of my lights is out. Or, perhaps, he's simply one of the many terrible drivers that inhabit this city. Maybe he's simply an aggressive driver. However, as his vehicle passes out of sight, rolling alongside me and off into parts unknown, my eyes stay glued to the gates just beyond. Those people, those same people, are there again. They're nudging each other, talking. Some are laughing. Some are waving at the cars passing by. Then, finally, I see it.

The signs. Held high, on poles, or simply between firmly locked hands, they wave them. White signs, emblazoned with the words "Teamsters Local 657".

*
The majority of tourists don't come to the King William's District during the week, or even during the day. No, they come mostly toward sunset, or the evenings. Certainly they come more during the weekends. At the beginning of each month, San Antonio celebrates an artistic festival called First Friday. Artists, dancers, and musicians all gather. They don't simply flock to the Blustar, even if most people begin the night there. Instead, they stretch themselves out for blocks, along streets, filling them up like water filling up newly carved canals. Lights ignite the night, and revelers begin to stroll along. A new smell fills the air, as cuts of meat are cooked on steel framed grills, the scent of smoke and barbeque passing along.

Few people have reason to walk by the front gates of Pioneer even if they drive by it daily. Regardless, it's the weekend. If there are protestors standing at the front gates, nobody will see them on this day, at this hour. They're hidden as much by virtue of their location as much as the time of day and week Yet, there is one man, one figure, that sears itself into my memory.

I'm fresh from the university, where I spend time as part of a research team. It's only hours before the beginning of the festivities, and I have a late assignment to gather a few photographs of the district at sunset. In hopes of making the history of San Antonio more palatable to the undiscerning tastes of college undergraduates, I've gone out to gather the sort of photos that could add life to a lecture. Feet pounding along now cooling concrete, the rapid shutters of my camera the only sound filling the still empty streets, I catch sight of him.

In San Antonio, it's not an unusual sight to see vagrants, signs held up in hopes of rustling a few dollars. At first, I take this to be what I'm seeing. He's a man, thin, his thick mustache decorating a line worn face. Not much meat on him, and a ballpark cap pulled tightly down over his eyes, he is stationed at the rear of the facility. Not on the street facing traffic, but instead facing the interior of the district itself, toward the view of the many elegant houses that have stood for a better part of the century.

Protestors never stand there. There are, simply put, not enough vehicles passing by to make it worth the time. Vagrants avoid the street for the same reason. It sits closer to the Guenther House Restaurant than it does to the entry of Pioneer Flour Mill, even if the two are intimately entwined. Still, he's there, not standing, but instead sitting. The sun pours over him, reddened skin tucked behind a white t-shirt, sign in hand.

It's the beginning of Friday evening. The sun is quickly disappearing, and yet he still sits there. The sign reads "Teamsters Local 657".

*
Flour, biscuit mixes, cereals, tortillas. Products people consume daily. Pioneer's bakeries even produce the buns that are shipped to fast food titans such as McDonald's and Burger King. The average citizen of San Antonio might not be able to recognize it for what it is, but Pioneer is a powerhouse in its own right, a producer and supplier of a variety of goods. Its own website says that its current owners now zip about on "jet planes to distant subsidiaries and talk of product development, brand recognition and strategic plans". Pioneer is no small player.
Which is why it was strange when, in the spring of 2011, the whispers started to become shouts. Not all was right in the halls of Pioneer Flour. Dissatisfaction, discontent and disharmony ruled the workers of Pioneer. A wage raise was quickly coming, and so it was strange that there should be dissatisfaction. At almost any time, in almost any economy, a raise would be welcomed. Not here, not in the heart of the King William's District.

A manager sits down the leaders of the local workers. The wage is coming, he assures them. However, it's coming at a price. Health care costs will also be going up. The culprit? Obamacare. Because of the heavy burdens being placed on them by the president, Pioneer will have to raise the contributions of the workers from 11$ for medical to 35$. A net pay loss of four dollars per week, when it's all said and done.

Outrage. Anger. The teamsters claim almost seventy percent of their people will not accept. Management claims otherwise. The practical result either way, however, is a strike. It's why, if you're passing through on a weekday morning, you might hear the word "Scabs" being shouted by the local picketers. There are people who are ready to criticize the protest, obviously. The pay decrease isn't much, and the health care coverage is better. Picketers respond that, in reality, many of them already have their own coverage. It's a net loss for them regardless.

Here's the real crux of it, though. Tell any hard working man that he's being rewarded with a pay cut, and tell me what the result is. This point is especially sharp when his company's website talks about owners that crisscross the country, forging economic partnerships via the luxury of jet planes. It's not just a matter of wage decrease, either. Take a look at any modern assessment of wealth. The gaps are getting wider, between the richest and everyone else. MSNBC's Ed Schultz loves to tout his graphs, one of the most consistent being the growing wealth disparity.

Yet more to the point is not the disparity, but the rate of wage growth for the average worker versus that of the wealthiest. While the earnings of the wealthiest have continued to climb, that of everyone else has stagnated. That's what has created the disparity, and that's why it's difficult to take a working man aside, look him in the eye and tell him that his work has earned him a paycut. Not with jet flying owners, and not in this economy. Because of inflation and other factors, the buying power of the average American worker no longer has the strength it did even just ten years ago. So, a pay cut of even four dollars a week makes no sense. If their dollars already buy less, then a pay decrease means they can contribute even less to the economy. It doesn't add up.
Not for the members of Teamsters Local 657.

*
April 2012, the beginning of a new year of protests. In the past six months, Occupy Wall Street, despite its stumbles and the criticisms against it, has at least managed to begin a narrative about the growing inequalities in America. Major uprisings in places like Wisconsin and Chicago are the marks of organized, somewhat powerful labor groups. Public workers and teachers are no longer willing to take the abuse of government. In the months following April, they'll win major concessions in the legislature, in places like Ohio, as well as win victories in the courts.

That doesn't mean much to the people standing, every day, in the heart of the King William's District though. You never hear their story. It's not carried on MSNBC, and nobody from CNN is listening. Even the local news only carries occasional coverage. San Antonio, despite its growing reputation as a more liberal, tolerant city that is distinct from the Republic of Rick Perry's Texas, casts only an occasional eye toward them.

Hell, I was barely able to cast an eye toward them, as my car jumped along on the street as I passed on to work. It's year two now, for them, and they're still standing out there. The damn shame is, nobody's telling their story. They're just a motley group, all wanting to be treated like human beings, treated with compassion and fairness. Their jobs have all been replaced, now. Pioneer boasts that they're back to 100% employment and efficiency, having trained new employees and filled all the gaps.

They're not giving up though, not these people. I'm no longer passing by every morning, as my life has drawn me elsewhere. I can leave. My future, still being written, is for the moment secure. These people are living on the edge, though. It's hard to go so long without a fair shot at the job you enjoyed. In six months, they'll be staring at year three. They're still shouting, still crying, but there are no ears to hear. Nobody is paying attention, and that protest that began with a shout has dimmed to a whimper. Not for lack of passion on the part of the workers, but for lack of care from anyone else. In a world where labor movement after movement is being covered in the media, there are still groups like this going unheard.

Still, for my money, and it's not much, there's just one memory I'll never be able to let go of. It's that old man, white t-shirt on, his ballcap pulled down tight. Seated in a collapsible chair, brown skin sizzling beneath the sunset, he's not off to join the festivities. He's sitting on the unattended side of Pioneer Flour Mill, alone on an evening when groups of people will soon be passing by, their minds more on alcohol than on fair wages. Perhaps rightfully so.

This man, though, was something else. He was anyone and everyone you've ever met but never given a fair shot. I hope he hasn't given up, and that he's still fighting for the job he believed in, even if he was standing alone while all the world was trying to ignore him. Holding that sign.
Teamsters Local 657.