The Stories Behind That Canary Pin
Hello from the campaign trail.
I’m writing from the backseat of our campaign car, typing on my laptop which is perched on a lap desk I bought at Target during Sherrod’s 2006 Senate campaign. Back then, I used it to keep the cumbersome computer from setting my legs on fire. Now it’s just a nice prop for my featherweight keyboard. Yet another reminder that change is inevitable, and often for the better. (Perhaps I’m the only one who needs that mini peptalk.)
Earlier this week, I was on the road in Ohio with historian Heather Cox Richardson. I will be writing more about that glorious experience in a separate post. Right now, I want to share this beautiful piece of artwork by M.B. Hopkins. In the photo, above, it is propped against the seatback of campaign staffer Blake Hesch, who keeps Sherrod safe and me sane during this campaign.
M.B. handed a print of her artwork to me after one of the joint events with Heather. She knows that, for more than 20 years, Sherrod has worn on his lapel a pin depicting a canary in cage.
There’s a story behind that pin.
The original one was a gift from Dominic Cataldo, a member of Local 1104 of the United Steelworkers of America.
Sherrod had just delivered a speech at a Workers’ Memorial Day event in April 2000 when Dominic walked up and placed the canary pin in his hand. I wrote about their exchange in my memoir about Sherrod’s 2006 Senate race, …and His Lovely Wife:
Cataldo reminded Sherrod that coal miners used to carry canaries down into the mines to alert them to the presence of dangerous gases. “It was the only gas meter they had,” he told Sherrod. “They didn’t have a union or anyone else looking out for them.”
Sherrod immediately pinned the canary to his lapel, to the delight of the steelworkers in the room. Ever since, he has worn a version of the pin on whatever jacket or sweater he pulls out of the closet. Every campaign year, we purchase a new batch of union-made canary pins. Campaign staffers always carry a few of them in their pockets because Sherrod constantly gives away his to supporters.
In 2006, so many people were pointing to his pin and asking for an explanation that Sherrod designed a four-by-nine-inch card telling the story of the canary and what it represented for workers. Whenever someone asked about the pin, he handed them this card.
In the last year or so, I’ve received an uptick in requests to explain the pin, usually after I share a photo of Sherrod showing the small glint of gold on his lapel. So, I’m sharing the explanation he wrote on that card in 2006:
The canary represents the struggle for economic and social justice in our nation.
In the early days of the 20th century, more than 2,000 American workers were killed in coal mines every year. Miners took a canary into the mines to warn them of toxic gases; if the canary died, they knew they had to escape quickly. Miners were forced to provide for their own protection. No mine safety laws. No trade unions able to help. No real support from their government.
A baby born in 1900 had a life expectancy of 47 years. Today, thanks to progressive government and an aggressive labor movement, Americans can expect to live, [on average], three decades longer. It has been a 100-year battle between the privileged and the rest of us.
We took on the oil and chemical companies to enact clean air and safe drinking water laws.
We overcame industry opposition to pass auto safety rules.
We beat back insurance and medical interests to establish Medicare and Medicaid for senior citizens and poor children.
We fought off Wall Street bankers to create Social Security.
We battled entrenched business interests to enact women’s rights and civil rights, protections for the disabled, and prohibitions on child labor.
We fought for all of it. Every bit of progress made in in the struggle for economic and social justice came over the opposition of society’s most privileged and most powerful. Remarkably, it was ordinary working families who won so many of these battles against he most entrenched, well-heeled interests.
The canary signifies that the struggle continues today, and that all of us must be ever vigilant against the powerful interest groups which too often control government.
By the time I met Sherrod, he’d already been wearing the pin for three years. A few months after we started dating, in early 2003, I met Dominic for the first time. What a kind and generous man, and so committed to workers’ rights. Every time I see him, I ask him again to describe the moment when he gave Sherrod his first canary pin. Every time, he indulges me.
Earlier this month, we saw Dominic at the Labor Day rally in Lorain. As you can see, he still wears a canary pin.
This time, he didn’t wait for me to ask.
“It was April 2000,” he said, holding my hand. “Sherrod had just finished his speech to workers….”
You know the rest of the story.
Off I go, to the first campaign stop of the day. (Hello, Toledo!) See you back here soon.
Oh, look! There’s UAW President Shawn Fain.
I hope the insanity that the GOP is creating in Springfield gives a BIG boost to Sherrod's campaign. He is the salve to the chaos AND he's the answer to mahem.
Although I no longer live in Ohio and thus cannot vote for Sherrod, my sisters who still live there are working diligently to educate people about voting, as well as assisting them to register.
Sherrod walks among the giants of our political system as a protector of everyday citizens. May he overcome the challenges that have been inserted into my native state by those who believe that only the few should have what belongs to us all: The right to live in a secure home and to pursue our dreams as we breathe clean air, eat healthy food and drink safe water.