Labor conference!

Yesterday I attended a one-day labor conference that was just stupendous; so inspirational, and the people there are just fantastic. 

As the woman I sat next to said to me, "Teaching is a calling, but so is working in labor, and you know if you have it."

My 2 favorite moments:

1) A (black) woman got up to give a testimony about how bad working at Wal-Mart is. 

"Good morning," she was like.

"Good morning!", people said, the other (black) people most emphatically.

Then, she said something about how nervous she was to get up to speak, since she had never done it before.

"Don't worry, we gotcha!", a (black) woman in the audience yelled out in affirming response.

2) A (young) (white) guy who was talking about how shitty restaurant work is mentioned all the workplace tensions, including how people of color are kept in "back-of-the-house" jobs like dishwashing and make less money, "while smiley white guys like me get to be in front of the house and make more money."

At that, people laughed.

"No, seriously," he was like.  "I'm lucky I was born white."

At that, some people's eyes got big, and like 5 (black) (men) in the office got approving smiles on their faces and started applauding, at his honesty.