Unions: The Unsung Heroes of the Middle Class - Ignite Your Activism with Warren West

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Coming up on this episode of the
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise podcast.

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Let's say if you, if you were advising
a young male, a young female, um,

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19, 20, and they said, they come to
you and they say, uh, brother, but we

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want to get involved in, in, in, um,
um, civil rights or the civil rights

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movement or helping others, uh, for,
to maintain their rights and freedoms.

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What would you advise them?

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Welcome to the Healthy, Wealthy.

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Healthy and Wise Podcast with Dr.

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William T.

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Choctaw, MD, JD.

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This podcast will inform, educate,
and motivate you to live a more

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healthy, wealthy, and wise life.

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It's powered by the over 50 years
of medical experience of this Yale

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University Medical School trained
surgeon who also received his Juris

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Doctorate from Western State Law School.

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He has executive experience as a
former mayor of Walnut, California,

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as a chairman of the non profit
Servants Armed, and And as president

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of Choctaw Medical Group Incorporated,
you've got questions or concerns.

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He's got answers for both.

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So let's listen in on an
interview already in progress.

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Well, most, most people don't

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understand unions in the first place.

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Okay?

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Okay.

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If you don't go to union meetings,
you don't know what the union's doing.

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That's true.

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And if you don't know what they're doing,
they can do whatever they wanna do.

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Understood.

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So you gotta have input, you gotta

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And when I started, got, when I
joined the union, got in the union,

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I, I found out that things were going
on in the union that I didn't like.

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Okay.

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So, I got most of the majority of the
people I worked with to go to meetings.

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And we set up a law that if you didn't
go to the union meetings, you got fined.

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Okay.

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So, people started going to
the union meetings and we kind

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of straightened our local up.

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Ah.

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So you have to be involved.

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You have to participate.

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Right.

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Because we Makes sense.

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Those people in the union are just as
They're bad people in there just like

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they're bad people every place else.

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Sure.

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Sure.

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Sure.

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They

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want to make They want to get
their Under the table money too.

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So Sure.

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You got to straighten you got to
straighten the unions out too.

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So understood and of course management
Yeah, well if you I found out

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on my job that Our union members
were in cahoots with management

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I was just gonna say management's
goal or I shouldn't generalize

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some management's goal Is to either
destroy the union or control them.

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That's right, basically

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So that's why most people
don't go to union meetings

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and they don't understand it.

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Yeah, you have to go to the meetings.

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And like I said, we made a thing
for our local that if you didn't

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show up for meetings, you got fired.

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Okay, that makes sense.

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It works.

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I don't know if they still have it or
not, but, sure, sure, because once I

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became manager, they kicked me out.

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But you bring up a point that I haven't
really talked in about it that I can

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remember who's made it that way that the
role of unions in this country and in

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particular, like I said, it's been a front
and center at the, um, at the convention

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this week, um, is to help people.

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The middle class and, and, and,
and everybody, uh, and if you

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have a strong middle class,
then you have a strong country.

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I, I've been to other countries
where there was an upper class and

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a lower class, but no middle class.

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And usually in those situations,
you know, you have the very rich

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and the very poor, you know, but you
don't have anybody in the middle.

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Um, and that, that what I've learned, I
think in my, uh, short life is that that

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middle is very important for everybody.

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That's everybody.

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It's, it's very important.

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Um, and, and as you mentioned to
moderate things, to make sure that

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people don't do what they aren't
supposed to do and sort of keep the

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balance, if you will, you know, to
keep everything stable and working.

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But I, I never, I never appreciated that
action until, until just hearing you say

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that, but I think you're exactly right.

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You're exactly right.

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Um, what, what did you learn,
uh, in, in union or being part

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of the unions in California?

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Like I said, they're only as
strong as the people in them.

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And you have to make sure you got
the strong leaders in the union.

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Like the union presidents and the
union secretaries and all that.

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You have to make sure they are strong.

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Otherwise, the union is only
As good as the people in it.

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Got it.

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That makes sense.

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That makes sense.

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And, like I say, they
can be much stronger.

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They can be much, much stronger if
people would go to union meetings.

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Okay.

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And understand what's
going on in the unions.

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Otherwise, they're not going
to be as strong into you.

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actually get in it and use the
union like it's supposed to be used.

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Got it.

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Got it.

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Let me circle back around to your
experience early on, uh, with the

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NAACP in the San Gabriel Valley
and trying to get local churches

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to at least allow you to meet.

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in their building.

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You know, I can remember growing up
in the deep south, you know, much

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of the civil rights movement came
from the churches, you know, or

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the churches led it basically, or
individuals in the churches led it.

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Um, do you think that that,
that is, it's regional?

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Uh, cause you're from Ohio.

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Uh, do you think it's regional
in terms of California is just

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different or, or, or what, what,
what do you think accounts for that?

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Um, I think it's because

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I don't, like I said, I don't
understand that part of it.

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Okay.

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Being from Ohio, my grandfather's,
where I went to church, my

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grandfather was involved in it.

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He was a member of the NAACP.

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Yes.

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My father was, we were friends.

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You know, fighters.

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Yes.

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Things upset us down south.

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Yes.

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I mean, when Emmett Till was killed.

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Yes, I remember that.

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I was a teenager.

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Uh huh.

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Um, I wanted to go down south.

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Yes.

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Your mom and dad said no, you're not going

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down south.

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I was a little bit too
young to go down there.

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I was 16, 17.

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That was, my grandparents and things
were all these fighters against.

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Yes, yes.

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You know, those things
were just brought up in me.

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Well, you know, when I was in high school,
I remember the freedom fighters from

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places like Ohio and New York and Chicago
who would come down in the summertime and,

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and help to register Folks and I'm from
Nashville, Tennessee, helped to register

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folks to vote and that sort of thing.

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But, but they, they were
participants like, like yourself

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and they were, they were committed
like yourself to, to doing that.

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Um, um, interesting, interesting.

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Um, So, what, what, what,
what, what would you recommend?

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Let's, let's say if you, if you were
advising a young male, a young female,

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um, 19, 20, and they sit, they come to
you and they say, uh, brother Buzz, we,

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we want to get involved in, in, in, um,
um, civil rights or the civil rights

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movement or helping others, uh, for,
to maintain their rights and freedoms,

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what, what would you advise them?

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I would advise them

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to

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join the education that they need to
know, because you'll find out by joining

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the education that you, the background of
the NAACP, of what we went through, what

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the struggle was, and what it still is.

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Who's fighting for you, you know?

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Yes.

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And what's, what's right and what's wrong?

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I mean, it's, it's, it's
deeper than people think it is.

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Absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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I remember in, in my school in
Nashville, the teachers, I, I grew

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up in foster care, uh, but in school,
the teachers were all committed.

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I would call them civil rights fighters,
if that, you know, that makes sense.

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They, they, they were not only our
teachers, but they were our extra parents.

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And, and they took on that responsibility
of saying, no, no, no, you have to succeed

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because we need you, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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And a lot of us grew up
like, like yourself in the

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sixties and early seventies.

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And so we grew up with that, you
know, even as we went through

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high school, college and beyond.

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Uh, and that was the duty.

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It wasn't something arbitrary.

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It was, it was, it was understood that,
that you would participate and, and

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make your contribution, uh, to that.

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I grew up in the fifties and I
remember those bad days, you know.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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And, you know, I was,
I was a good athlete.

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Okay.

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Even though I had a bad
arm, I was injured at birth.

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Okay.

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I couldn't use it.

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I didn't use my arm until
I was six years old.

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Okay.

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I was a good athlete.

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I played football, basketball,
baseball, rack, uh, and then

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trying to get to go to college.

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Yes.

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I was a top athlete.

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I got to see, I don't know if you
remember, uh, the Ohio State coach, um,

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uh, bud, um, uh, Hayes was his name.

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Hayes?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I I, I remember him.

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Yeah, I,

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I

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talked to him.

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personally.

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Really?

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Okay.

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He wanted me to play, but the college
would not let me play because of my arm.

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Okay.

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And that's what they said, but
I still think it was prejudiced.

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Understood.

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And that was just an excuse.

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Right.

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And like I said, I come from
a family of good athletes.

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I had an uncle who used to go to Cleveland
and try out for the Cleveland Indians

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every year, even before Jackie Roberts.

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Yes.

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Because he was in that black baseball.

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Right.

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The Negro League.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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He used to go up there every year.

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They would let him come and try
out, but they wouldn't accept him.

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They wouldn't accept him.

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Got it.

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They liked him.

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Oh, you know, they, oh, I wish
we could use you, you know, but

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they would never let them play.

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Got it.

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I remember the, you know,
the Black Negro League, um.

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Because sometimes my
uncles would let me play.

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Be a bad boy for them.

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Those guys could play some baseball.

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I mean, they could play
some real serious baseball.

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And from what I understand, the
professional leagues now are starting to

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recognize, I think, some of the stats and
that sort of thing from the Negro League,

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because they were just outstanding.

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You know, it's interesting because
you grew up in the 50s and I grew up

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in the 60s, And when folks talk about
going back, we're saying, no, we don't

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want to go back to the 50s and 60s.

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We remember what that was like, you
know, and we don't want to go back

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there, nor do we want our children
and our grandchildren to go back

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to that, because it was horrible.

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It was horrible, you know.

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Um, that it, that the, it takes a
while for things to change, but they

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do change, you know, the arc of the
universe bends toward justice and it

246
00:12:32,445 --> 00:12:34,285
does get there, but it takes a while.

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00:12:34,285 --> 00:12:35,874
I

248
00:12:35,875 --> 00:12:36,155
remember

249
00:12:36,195 --> 00:12:37,554
being, uh,

250
00:12:38,235 --> 00:12:42,730
playing a football game and
I, hurt the quarterback.

251
00:12:43,390 --> 00:12:43,860
Uh huh.

252
00:12:43,970 --> 00:12:47,170
Not, you know, I didn't do it on purpose.

253
00:12:47,410 --> 00:12:48,510
Right, but you hit him.

254
00:12:48,510 --> 00:12:54,319
Okay.

255
00:12:54,319 --> 00:13:00,900
My team, which I appreciate today, they
had to surround me to get back on the bus.

256
00:13:01,459 --> 00:13:02,350
Is that right?

257
00:13:02,730 --> 00:13:04,400
Because your quarterback was white.

258
00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:05,500
They were all white.

259
00:13:07,069 --> 00:13:12,880
Where I'm from, in the league
I played in, majority white.

260
00:13:13,259 --> 00:13:13,780
Of course.

261
00:13:13,839 --> 00:13:17,839
The small town I'm from,
it was only about 25 feet.

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00:13:18,489 --> 00:13:19,199
Black families.

263
00:13:19,569 --> 00:13:19,949
Yes.

264
00:13:20,539 --> 00:13:25,799
And like I said, so in the area
I'm from is predominantly white.

265
00:13:26,379 --> 00:13:26,899
Yes.

266
00:13:28,469 --> 00:13:31,239
for listening to the Healthy,
Wealthy, and Wise podcast with Dr.

267
00:13:31,239 --> 00:13:31,819
William T.

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00:13:31,819 --> 00:13:33,759
Choctaw, MD, JD.

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00:13:34,329 --> 00:13:38,099
You can listen again to this and
any of the previous episodes.

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00:13:38,379 --> 00:13:43,709
Leave a comment or pose questions
to the doctor by going to www.

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00:13:43,749 --> 00:13:43,959
thwwp.

272
00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:44,842
com.

273
00:13:44,842 --> 00:13:46,605
That's www.

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00:13:46,605 --> 00:13:47,487
thwwp.

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00:13:47,487 --> 00:13:48,369
com.

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00:13:48,369 --> 00:13:51,909
T H W W P dot com, and you've got it.

277
00:13:52,579 --> 00:13:55,609
It's also available wherever
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00:13:56,459 --> 00:14:00,279
Be sure to follow, like, share, and
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279
00:14:00,599 --> 00:14:03,509
Then tune in for the next
episode of the Healthy, Wealthy,

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00:14:03,509 --> 00:14:05,050
and Wise podcast with Dr.

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00:14:05,060 --> 00:14:05,639
William T.

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00:14:05,639 --> 00:14:11,149
Choctaw, MD, JD, a production of
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