Today is the 100th anniversary of this tragedy (travesty). Today preservation organizations, historians, artists, and labor activists commemorate the event, which inspired New Deal legislation protecting workers (including Social Security), now under attack. This is an excellent documentary.

Of course, please also revisit this page.

And put everything in context with these Democracy Now! clips:

• This,
• This, and
• This

Note that just 3 months ago, an almost identical travesty occurred in Bangladesh, in a factory producing garments for Gap, Van Heusen, Aberbrombie and Fitch, and JC Penney. Our so-called “post-industrial” economy still rests on the backs of exploited workers. WI Governor Scott Walker has made a call to arms to extend his assault on workers all across the country in the name of “fiscal responsibility”–in fact, to unravel whatever gains that workers made during the 20th century. He and his ilk long to return us to the Gilded Age.