Circulating petitions in Columbus, Ohio to repeal Senate Bill 5 takes me a bit off the beaten path. Here are a few photos from along the way.
Free lunch every day at 11 o'clock at the C.R.A.C.K House (Christ Resurrects After Crack Kills) on Cleveland Ave.:
Mural showing inner city choices:
Across the street:
Confederate P.O.W. cemetery at the Camp Chase site on Sullivant Ave.:
"2260 Confederate soldiers of the War of 1861-65 buried in this enclosure"
My fellow SB5 activist Greg & I have been concentrating mostly on petitioning at branch library locations--seems to be the most fertile ground for signatures in my experience, at least for now. We get around 15 signatures per hour setting up alongside the main entrances. Interesting that the rate doesn't vary very much whether we are in a liberal university area, a black neighborhood, or white/mixed working class neighborhood. I was skeptical if poor people would find much common cause with middle class union workers, but that appears to be the case.
It's interesting to see some of the same faces every day--evidently every library has a collection of characters who hang out regularly. One fellow sells one of those fortnightly homeless-themed newspapers, called Street Speech for $1. He said to me the other day "you're going to want to buy this one":
Some quotes from the article:
"I believe we all have a constitutional right to unite," said Street Speech vendor William Crandell. "I've never been with a union, but what I understand is that the union provides the little guy with a stepping stone. It gives a chance for the little man to speak with a voice that cannot be ignored."
"Unions are job security," said Peter Ramirez, Street Speech vendor. "They can do whatever they want to you without unions. If you get into a disagreement you can get fired. That way they can fire people and hire them for cheaper wages. A lot of companies are doing that."
Government was set up to insure our inalienable rights. These people that work every day, they do all the work, they pay the taxes, they buy the products--they make the world work. These people work hard all their life; they're public servants. If politicians are going to put everybody's neck on the chopping block, they should put their own neck on the chopping block," said Robert Henries, Street Speech vendor. "They're centralizing wealth and power, and there's going to be an elite few."
"If you lose the unions, you lose mainstream America, the people who really work," said vendor Aundrea Lachowyn.
Friday May 6th the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless will be participating in "Homeless support Collective Bargaining Day" in Ohio, along with homeless coalitions in Cincinnati and Cleveland. Street Speech vendors will be showing their support for Ohio workers by collecting signatures to put a measure to repeal SB5 on the ballot in November. Volunteers will also be going out to homeless shelters to collect signatures.
"I think it's wrong. This country was built on unions," said vendor Jim Gainey.
OK, off the the west side...