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| The nation has debt, the 99% have debt, do you think the 1% have debt? |
The guides of the museum spoke of the injustice served on the Irish Immigrants of the mid to late 1800s who mined the coal in the Pennsylvania coal mines of the region. You will hear of how the coal miners worked long arduous hours in the mines; and did not get to spend the money they earned as it was always owed to the Company Store and the Company Landlord. If the coal miner died whether from black lung or in a mining accident his widow and children were evicted immediately and left for homeless unless they had a son to take over the father's job. They had boys as young as nine or ten mining in the coal mines. If there was a threat of an accident, the miners were instructed to save the mules first and that every miner had to save themselves.
In the town there were signs in the windows of the shops; No Irish Allowed. There would be no justice for the hard working laborers in the mines. The irony of it all was that Franklin B. Gowan was a first generation Irish Protestant and President of both the PA & Reading Railroad, and the PA & Reading Coal & Iron Company yet had no respect for those who worked hard so he could enjoy the fruits of their labor.
When the coal miners assembled and tried to negotiate with the company for better work conditions and a decent wage they were threatened and murdered. Franklin Gowan hired the Pinkertons, a Philadelphia Detective Agency to investigate those who were organizing unions. History has conflicting stories, just as our media today who report the activities of Occupy.
If one was to hear the stories handed down from generation to generation of the coal miners you will hear as I have heard from my own mother whose grandparents were from Mauch Chunk/Jim Thorpe. The story I was told was that the miners were innocent of the Pinkerton's accusations of murder, and the company run government condemned them to death by hanging. The handed down stories state that the Pinkertons themselves were the murderers and framed the lowly miners who had no means of defending themselves against the Dystopian Society of the day.
They were in an Oligarchy structured society where the elite 1 % ruled the government and the 99% of coal miners and their families were bound to servitude to the coal company that controlled all aspects of their day to day activities. When they stood up for themselves they were "railroaded" by the 1% that controlled the media and government. In the end there was a public hanging to send the message to anyone who had ideas of standing up to the 1% of the elite who ruled.
At the present time the conditions of our daily lives as the 99% are much better than that of the coal miners during the mid to late 1800s. However, we must stand up of our rights now before it quickly deteriorates to that of our ancestors here in the coal region of Pennsylvania. We should not allow the 1% of our country to dictate policy such as the latest campaign finance laws that will only give the 1% more power to control who we vote for in our elections.
During the past decade or so the 1% have gotten their ducks in a row, and are on a roll toward a Oligarchy structured society; the actual literal translation from the Greek is "rule of the few". They have organized to take away the blue collar worker jobs through outsourcing/NAFTA, the carefully placed corporate pawns in government have passed bills to deconstruct our Labor Unions, the home and land ownership of the former middle class sunk into foreclosures through the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, the big corp. insurance companies dictating the health care of the former middle class, the big "Pharma Companies" courting the doctors to spread their control of the public through controlled substances, the massive dependence on foreign fossil fuels without regard for employing the unemployed to develop alternative energy sources, and the lack of government funding for all forms of education for the former middle class and the lies perpetrated by the government to wage war on the Iraqi people. Make no mistake; the 1% dictatorship ruled Iraq, but it was the 99% who go on suffering from the "Shock and Awe" of the Bush Administration.
It is much easier to control a beaten down, unemployed, uneducated, drugged up, group of people that have lost all sense of contribution, pride of ownership, and wisdom. So when you see or hear of the media condemning Occupy, think of the Irish Miners of Mauch Chunk who were labeled Molly Maguires by the Coal Company pawns, and the media of the their day who spread the word that they were criminals. The 1% Wealthy Hierachy were responsible for the public opinion of their day, let us not allow history to repeat itself.
When Occupy demonstrators are in an urban setting they should not be labeled the criminals. There are and always have been crimes committed in these urban settings on a daily basis. The police and media have attributed these crimes to the demonstrators. I also would not find it very hard to believe that like the Pinkertons of the mid to late 1800s there is some instigated or provoked violence that has been attributed to the demonstrators in order to give Occupy bad publicity.
I have also seen where the Conservative media has promoted the idea that Occupy is a predominately Liberal/Socialistic endeavor, even eluding to racial overtones of a black influence because of the current seated President's ethnicity. I have seen several links to Conservative Tea Party enthusiasts who have condemned Occupy.
We need to unite in order to stop the 1% while there is still a chance to do so. WE THE PEOPLE were regular laborers and farmers. Abraham Lincoln said it best when he said, "our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Irish Coal Miners Of Pennsylvania/Molly Maguires
Mauch Chunk Jail HIstory
Allison Kilkenny Occupy
Jamie Kilstein Occupy
Occupy Wall Street The Official Website
Working America
Big Brother Is Watching You-George Orwell's 1984
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