It was beach week, and while my kids and grandkids did the socially distancing sand, surf, sun thing, I sat on the deck or inside the air-conditioned beach house reading and overeating.

Based on my absolute hatred of hot sun, ocean creatures, and sand in my body parts, I decided to read two books. One was by Damian Dressick titled, 40 Patchtown, and the other was by Cody McDevitt, called Banished from Johnstown. Both were based in the 1922-23 era, but their subject matter is all too familiar today.

Dressick wrote his historic fiction about what was described as the most brutal labor struggle in American history. It was based on the coal miners strike of 1922 in Windber. The Berwinds brought in Pinkerton guards, scab laborers, and then applied all the power of corporate America to break the miners labor union.

Meanwhile, McDevitts book is also about labor, but it took a completely different slant because his book, also very thoroughly researched, is an historic depiction of the depth of racial prejudice that was present in Johnstown during that time.

Keep in mind that more than 50,000,000 people had died of the Spanish flu that started in 1918 and ended sometime around 1920. There were mass graves in places like Central City, and the former Mercy Hospital was started out of necessity in 1918 because, according to the history of the area, the primary Johnstown hospital established after the flood of 1889, refused to treat immigrants who presented with the flu. Consequently, tents were set up on the hill beside it, and Mercy nuns provided what aid they could to those individuals. (Mask wearing was controversial at time as well, hence the 50,000,000 deaths.)

Dressicks book on Windber is filled with familiar names (some probably changed to avoid lawsuits), places, and situations that came directly from both the oral and written history of that time. He describes the brutal murders, bully tactics, and squalid living conditions of those who were dependent upon the Berwind family corporate mines.

McDevitts book provides an incredibly well-documented expos of the Rosedale Riot in Johnstown and, to quote Richard Burkett, president of the Johnstown Heritage Association, the tensions created in this industrial city once the steel plant found it necessary to recruit Southern African Americans to perform the unskilled tasks previously done by East Central European immigrants.

In McDevitts book, we learn about the overwhelming influence of the Ku Klux Klan in the Johnstown area, the incredibly unjust steps taken by the then mayor of the city, Joseph Caufiell, who informed all black and Mexican residents who had not lived there for at least seven years that they had to leave the city within 24 hours or face imprisonment or worse. His actions, orders, and brutal prejudices forced about 2000 non-white citizens to leave Johnstown within a few days of his proclamation, and the outrage caused by this illegal, unconstitutional act reverberated around the world.

Ironically, the same tactics and powers being used to create fear and hatred toward non-white and/or immigrant individuals in 1922-23 continue today. Corporate greed and white supremacy techniques were used in heinous, un-American ways to incite fear and hatred to take over or remain in power. History is repeating itself in many ways.

The original fake news concept started when the country was founded and continued indiscriminately during this period. The newspapers delivered their stories with very different slants to appeal to their readers; KKK crosses burned on every hill surrounding Johnstown; and gun-for-hire Pinkertons beat and killed miners in Windber. Both books are good, easy reads and reveal the roots of certain prejudices, political beliefs, and labor stands that still exist today.

Truthfully, the eye-opener for me was how very far we havent yet progressed.

Wear your masks, but keep your eyes and minds open.

(Nick Jacobs of Windber is a Senior Partner with Senior Management Soultions and author of the blog healinghospitals.com.)

Go here to read the rest:

Are we making progress? - Daily American Online