Have you gone to jail for justice?

Iowa CCI and CCI Action Fund member John Blasingame took part in winning a People’s Agenda at our 2014 Statewide Convention. He sang a powerful song, "Have you been to jail for justice", that brought the room to silence, so we wanted to find out more about the song, and John!

 1)      Can you introduce yourself in a few sentences?

I’m John Blasingame, member of Iowa CCI, retired laborer in construction and I identify with the mass of the working people in this country

.2)      Where did you first hear this song?

I first heard the song in Labor Notes, a paper in Dubuque. Every 2-3 years they have a Convention and one year there was a lady by the name of Anne Feeney, a labor singer and attorney. She sang “Have you been to jail for justice”.

3)     What’s your greatest take away from the song?

It says exactly what I think – are you willing to stand up for what's right, are you willing to stand up against being dictated by people like the Koch Brothers and corporations? This is our country, and the people that we keep electing are selling us out to the power that be. This began during and after the Civil War – when corporations really came to power – the robber barons and all of that, that whole idea of social Darwinism, if you’re poor than you deserve to be poor. That's not right.

4)     Why do you sing it for others to hear?

Bill Moyers came here to Silver City and did some taping in 2010 and asked me some questions. The next day we were going to finish it up and I had thought about it quite a bit that evening, about what we [at CCI] work for. The next day I thought of that song because it says exactly what we say [at CCI].This makes me think of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) - they were founded in 1905 and they pushed for a 30 hour work week. They called out for unemployment insurance in 1905, and that came to be social security. The 40 hour work week came out of organized labor. It really burns me to hear people talk against organized labor. They also stressed that if the employer wanted them to work on the weekend they had to pay them time and a half so people were not worked to death. IWW used music as a real part of their organizing. They would take hymns and change the lyrics.

5)      Why are you a part of Iowa CCI? We are people who really get things done, who get out in the street, who speak truth to power, who don’t back off. You can’t intimidate us and we refuse to stop confronting people. I do believe in the quote: "The surest way for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing."