From the Green Party of Michigan:
South Central Michigan Greens
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Calhoun, Hillsdale, and Jackson Counties Local
People and planet over profit.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 24, 2022
For more information:
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Monika Dittmann Schwab, Local Contact/SCMiGreens
John Anthony La Pietra, Co-Founder/SCMiGreen
#WalkOutTraining2022
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South Central Michigan Greens
21st Annual Labor Day Labor History Walk
Saturday, Sept. 3 10am to noon
The 21st annual walk between two labor landmarks in Marshall on or
around Labor Day -- this year on Saturday, September 3 -- will give
working people an opportunity to come out and walk together, train for
other walkouts, and think about the work we can do to start cleaning
things up.
The event, which is open to the public, is posted at
The walk will start at 10am at the intersection of East Drive, East
Mansion Street, and East Michigan Avenue, across from the VFW Hall --
original site of the house where a union known as the Brotherhood of the
Footboard was founded in 1863.
The site has a monument put up by the union in 1943 -- and a plaque to
another piece of what could be called Marshall's "labor" history and its
standing as an early sanctuary city: the 1847 Crosswhite Incident,
where city residents helped protect an escaped slave and his family from
agents of his former owner.
The house, home to founder Jared C. "Yankee" Thompson, has been moved to
633 West Hanover (at the corner of Linden) -- where the walk will end.
One of Marshall's many state historical markers stands there.
The union -- perhaps the oldest in the US -- has also endured, and is
now known as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. And,
facing increasingly unsafe and stingy working conditions, BLE-T members
voted 99% last month to authorize a strike.
After reading the inscriptions on the two monuments at the start,
walkers will pay their respects to those who have labored before --
including a site clean-up, weather permitting -- and then start toward
the Thompson home.
On the way, walkers will pass places linked to two different kinds of
workers. The city's historic 1932 Post Office (202 East Michigan
Avenue) also contains the second-largest postal museum in the country.
And the parking lot across from the Marshall District Library (124 West
Green Street) is now the site of the Marshall Area Farmers' Market on
Saturdays May to October from 8am to 1pm.
Walkers will also stop at the Marshall Peace Park on the south side of
Michigan Avenue a block and a half east of the Fountain Circle, clean up
the park, then finish the 1.3-mile trip to the Thompson House site on
Hanover. A map of the route is available at
After the walk, participants can decide to continue the discussion over
lunch or a snack. The endpoint is near the Dark Horse Brewing Company,
511 S. Kalamazoo; other possible sites are in the downtown area on the
way back to the VFW parking lot.
The walk is sponsored by the South Central Michigan Greens local, which
covers Calhoun, Jackson, and Hillsdale Counties -- but is open to anyone
interested in celebrating the history of working people.
"Michigan has a total of fifteen entries in the Inventory of American
Labor Landmarks, and two of them are right here in Marshall," notes
local co-founder John Anthony La Pietra, who has been making similar
walks in September since at least 2002, when he wrote about it in the
since-closed Marshall Review newspaper. The local started a spring walk
close to International Labor Day (May 1) in 2018.
And if some see this walk as training for the Mackinac Bridge crossing
(or a replacement for Detroit's again-canceled Labor Day parade), that's
fine too, he added. "We welcome anyone who's seen crises used to hurt
railroad workers and other 'essential' working people and who wants to
join us in walking out on that rerun and taking time to help clean up
the state of our lives . . . physically, economically, and politically."
Anyone in the area who is interested in discussing the Green Party's
values, platform, and candidates is welcome to take part. For more
details and news about the SCMiG local, please visit its Facebook page:
For more information about the Green Party of Michigan, its candidates,
its platform, and its values, please visit:
# # #
The Four Pillars of GPMI:
Grassroots Democracy
Social Justice
Ecological Wisdom
Non-Violence
For our Ten Key Values, add:
Community-Based Economics
Decentralization
Feminism
Future Focus/Sustainability
Personal and Global Responsibility
Respect for Diversity
