Stories of Encounter, Choice, and Identity
Jeff Pittman
An encounter that made a difference in my life and left me seeing things differently which gave form to choices I made later on:
My maternal grandmother, Minta was an unapologetic, progressive Democrat. And I think she knew I would be a Democrat even before I did.
My parents divorced when I was a young teenager. I spent quite a bit of time with my grandmother. She often volunteered for local Democratic elected officials. She particularly liked to volunteer for a local, Dallas Congressman, John Bryant. One day she took me along to volunteer in his campaign office.
This was a time just before the expansion of sophisticated design/printing programs and automated addressing/folding/stuffing equipment became available in a financially attainable way for small businesses or campaigns with tight budgetary constraints. And this was a great time for my grandmother and her other self described, “little old ladies”. Then they hand stamped the Congressman’s name on campaign correspondence. They taught me how to fold hundreds of letters an hour with a spoon which produced a neat fold and protected against the dreaded enemy of their proud productivity, paper cuts!
You learn a great deal about local politics and a whole lot more about people if you keep quiet and listen
to them around coffee, stuffing envelopes for several hours. My grandmother and her friends greatly believed in the Congressman’s ability to bring positive change to the hard working people of the 5th congressional district. I could identify with that. After my parents divorced my mother worked two jobs to make ends meet. Her night job was at Wal-Mart. She did not like it. She did it because she must. And I’ve never forgotten it.
My early thoughts and desire to work for social and economic justice were shaped by those sessions volunteering on early political campaigns. I had two encounters through my grandmother with Congressman Bryant that deeply forged my desire to pursue justice for working families, like the family I grew up in.
One day when I was volunteering with my grandmother the Congressman came into the office. He gave me a bumper sticker that said, John Bryant, Putting people first.” He thanked my grandmother and her friends (the powerful, little old lady brigade in my mind now) warmly for what they did to help make a difference. They blushed and acted as if he were a movie star! They all greatly respected him. I thought, “I want to be a Congressman.”
Not long thereafter, Bryant was in a tough re-election fight and did a series of town hall meetings to address constituent concerns. My grandmother and I went to several meetings in different locations, in one day. National Rifle Association (NRA) members and other supporters of Bryant’s political opponent were also at each town hall meeting -- to ask him why he supported a gun ban for semi-automatic rifles and why he would not vote for a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to ban burning our nation’s flag.
He quietly and respectfully answered their questions at the first few town hall meetings. After they monopolized the conversation at one meeting after the other, Congressman Bryant quietly but firmly told them, “There are people here who need help with the Veteran’s Administration. There are folks here who really need help with their Social Security benefits. They have real problems. I have repeatedly answered your questions about guns and flags. You and I disagree. I have an opponent. Go vote for the man and let me help the folks who showed up because they have real problems!” (Bryant won a standing ovation from my grandmother and others in the room and won that election too).
These encounters helped forge my belief that it is noble to work for economic and social justice, even if others disagree with us vehemently. These encounters made me want to engage in public service through working for candidates in electoral politics and through the great architect of the middle class in Europe and the United States, the labor movement. And that is what I have done. I am blessed in no small way with all the losses and wins that I have experienced pursuing this pilgrimage.
JKP
