AUTOBIOGRAPHY
While growing up in New York in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, I had the opportunity to witness many changes, specifically how the fortunes of the working class had changed. I saw how a group of politicians had bamboozled this group into believing that they were looking out for the tax dollars of the working class, but in reality they were acting on behalf of the “big money” interests who were picking their pockets and getting richer. My experience and observations are backed by documented evidence that appeared in newspapers, magazines, television, and events that shaped the current political and social landscape.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to several strong women. My wife, Dolores, was a woman of strong faith. She read “her Bible” daily, and her spiritual insights brought clarity to how religion is sometimes used to manipulate and control the working class. My mother, Chloe Cooper, was the epitome of tenacity and resilience and for many years worked two jobs to achieve whatever goals she had set for herself. My grandmother, Vera Cooper, saw life in very stark terms. Her husband died at a young age and left her with three children. She was determined to make a life for herself on her own terms. She worked from home, never venturing out for employment and generally only left her house to buy supplies. She was a shopkeeper who invested her profits in real estate, acquiring homes that she put on rent, and was remarkably successful. Evelyn Poitier, my paternal grandmother, was all love. As a child, I was very sickly and she would pamper me and constantly worry about how I was doing, to the annoyance of my brothers. Even now I am sometimes reminded of how she was very protective of me. Everybody said she was a woman of few words, but she would talk to me all the time and the nickname she gave me stuck. “Pongee” was her love name for me; she made me feel special and everybody called her “Mama”.