by Patricia M. DeMarco

This Mother’s Day holds deep memories, and current powerful examples of the force of women on our society. I had the pleasure to attend the Battle of Homestead Foundation tribute to the Women of Steel celebrated in music, film and remembrance at the historic Pump House, the last original structure remaining from the Homestead Steel Works. Steffi Domike and Connie Portis organized the screening of Pauline Greenlick’s film set to Mike Stout’s song “Women of Steel.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gORURSBGge4 Betty Esper’s stories from the early days of running as a messenger from one end of the 5-mile mill complex to the other shared a time when every advance was hard-won. Sandra Gould Ford’s tales of her time in the chem lab of J&L, with her photographs becoming the base for her amazing work as a photographic artist ,gave powerful evidence of survival in the face of monstrous adversity. And Rose Bezey ‘s and Kelly Vereb’s tales of hardships persisting to this day raised the value and importance of the Union in combatting injustice and discrimination. We need the power of unions again today, more than ever.

I was thinking about my Mother, Marcella DeMarco, all evening as I sat absorbing the solidarity and the power of so many strong union women, so many friends in the movement. My Mother organized teachers for better wages, promotion opportunities equivalent to men; for equal sports opportunities for girls, before Title IX, and for better classroom materials.  She went on, after earning her Doctorate in Public Administration, to organize the Pittsburgh Administrators Association for the same needs – women’s rights, students’ rights and fair wages and opportunities to advance. Her passion for her students pervaded our lives. I remember carrying her emergency supply bag (lemons, smelling salts, water, blister salve and bandages etc.) as she coached the South Hills High School Drill Team for Memorial Day parade. I watched in awe as she coached the Women’s Gymnastics team, including my blue-ribbon sister Linda who defied gravity flying off the uneven parallel bars, or leaping to unimagined heights in floor exercises she performed to music she recorded on her flute. My Mother always had a passion for excellence and seeing that her students were able to pursue their highest ambitions.

So many of the Women of Steel, and the workers who made the steel industry the heart of our economy for nearly 100 years, came to Pittsburgh as immigrants fleeing strife and poverty. They infused America with passion for a better life, a hard-working ethic and a tight sense of community. These values still stand, even in communities disinvested for the last 50 years, especially among the immigrants here among us today. But how different their reception now compared to those many years ago! My parents and grandparents preserved the cultural richness from Italy, Poland and Croatia even as they settled into the culture of American life. Today we treat immigrants as “aliens” ignoring the richness added to our life experience in the diversity of foods, customs, music and joy they bring to our communities.

It is the women who preserve culture, who hold the community together when times get tough, and who stand in solidarity when the rules need to change. This strong spirit of solidarity and resilience holds even today. Rose Beazy spoke of the rising need for unions to protect workers rights for health and safety in the face of entrenched corporate greed. Our challenges increase as federal policies erode environmental protections, social services, education and health protections.

Hard-won rights for voting and fair representation loom as battles needed again. Freedom of religion, free speech and of the press erode daily through back-door executive powers backed by a corrupt Supreme Court. It is time for all of us to take the lessons of the Women of Steel. It is time to defend our Constitution:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/senate-and-constitution/constitution.htm

We must organize, mobilize and protest this administration’s usurpation of our country by greed, avarice and corrupt self-dealing at the highest levels of government. We who stand in solidarity with the people who actually do the work that builds wealth need to level the profit field so the workers benefit more fairly from their labor. The functions of government must return to serving the people, not just private corporate interests, especially of multi-national corporations.

I return to the amazing words and work of Eleanore Roosevelt in her time as Chair of the Commission on Human Rights in forming the United Nations. Her words spoken in the wake of the horrors of World War II ring as a caution to us today:

“We must not be confused about what freedom is. Basic human rights are simple and easily understood: freedom of speech and a free press; freedom of religion and worship; freedom of assembly and the right of petition; the right of men to be secure in their homes and free from unreasonable search and seizure and from arbitrary arrest and punishment.We must not be deluded by the efforts of the forces of reaction to prostitute the great words of our free tradition and thereby to confuse the struggle. Democracy, freedom, human rights have come to have a definite meaning to the people of the world which we must not allow any nation to so change that they are made synonymous with suppression and dictatorship.“https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/struggle-human-rights-1948

We live in perilous times, embroiled in a “war of choice” amid the deliberate destruction of many institutions of science, education, arts, and humanity. We must renew our dedication to standing up for what we value. We must hold true to the sacrifices of so many before us who fought and died for true government “…of the People, by the People and for the People.” It is time to step into our power as engaged citizens. 

Live in harmony with Nature!