"Anybody watching this right now who went to college, or got to put their child through college, anybody who's living in a house, has three square meals a day, that was all because of what happened with that strike in Flint." – Michael Moore on The War Room with Jennifer Granholm, December 12th, 2012, discussing Michigan's new right-to-work law. (Granholm was Michigan's Governor from January 2003-January 2011, and was succeeded by lying, Koch Brothers-owned Republican, Rick Snyder.)

"That strike in Flint" was the basis for Moore's first documentary, "Roger & Me," about the laid off auto workers of General Motors in Flint, Michigan. Many of those original UAW sit-down strikers from Flint were on hand for the "right to work" protest in Lansing on Tuesday. They included ninety-one-year-old Geraldine Blankinship, and this gentleman, whose name I didn't catch sadly, who also happened to be celebrating his 96th birthday.

Michael Moore is a native of Michigan, attended the University of Michigan, and is the son and grandson of auto workers. His uncle LaVerne was one of the founders of the United Automobile Workers labor union and participated in the Flint Sit-Down Strike.

[A scene from "Roger & Me," some language may not be suitable for work.]

Tonight, Tuesday, April 24th, the Film Society of Lincoln Center (the group that presents the New York Film Festival each year) will be having a special screening of Michael Moore's first film, 'Roger & Me.' The film festival turns 50 this year, and to celebrate, they've chosen a handful of films from the over one thousand that they've shown to present at their theater at Lincoln Center, the Walter Reade. Showtime is 8:00 PM and the screening is open to the public (if you happen to be in the New York City area). For more information click here:

It may be “halftime in America,” but for the once prosperous GM town of Flint, Michigan, the game ended long ago. In his explosive—and explosively funny—debut feature, Michael Moore returns to Flint (where he grew up in better times) in the wake of massive layoffs at the local auto factories and surveys the damage with his signature mix of razor-sharp satire and profound compassion. His primary objective: to land an interview with elusive GM chairman Roger B. Smith. But along the way, Moore introduces us to an unforgettable cast of eccentric locals, including a woman who sells rabbits as “pets or meat” and Flint native son Bob “Newlywed Game” Eubanks. The first of Moore’s always prescient investigations of business-as-usual in America, Roger & Me feels as relevant in the “Occupy” era as it did 23 years ago.

“A phenomenal film debut... Moore fails to convince the chairman to visit Flint, but triumphantly succeeds in exploring the dark irony of a city where the Miss America parade shows the beauty queen waving at boarded-up storefronts and the homeless lining the streets.” —NYFF27 program note

“Mr. Moore makes no attempt to be fair. Playing fair is for college football. In social criticism, anything goes, as it goes triumphantly in Roger and Me.” —Vincent Canby, The New York Times

[I'm sharing this note from Michael Moore]

Friends,

On this day 25 years ago, in 1987, I became a filmmaker. It was around ten in the morning and the first-ever roll of Kodak 16mm film for my first-ever movie was loaded into my friend's camera to shoot the very first scene of 'Roger & Me.' I had no idea on that morning in Flint, Michigan what my life would be like after that, or what would happen to Flint, or to General Motors. It all felt fairly ominous, though -- after all, GM, which was posting record profits at the time, was closing its first Flint factory (the first of what would become many) and unemployment in Flint had officially been listed as high as 29%. Surely things couldn't get much worse.

That morning, 25 years ago today, a group of autoworkers had come together on the lawn of the soon-to-be-closed Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac assembly plant to raise their voices against the closing -- and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Great Flint Sit-Down Strike, which had begun at that very factory. That strike, in 1936-37, was actually an occupation. Hundreds of workers took over the factories in Flint and refused to leave for 44 days until GM capitulated and recognized their union. The strike inspired thousands of other workers across the country to stage their own occupations and, before you knew it, in the years to follow, factory workers were paid a living wage, with benefits, vacations, and a safe working place.

The middle class and the American Dream were born 75 years ago today, on February 11, 1937, the day the Flint workers won their struggle. And for the next 44 years, working people everywhere got to own their own homes, send their kids to college and never worry about going broke if they got sick. That belief, that life would be good if you were a good citizen and a hard worker, now seems out of reach for nearly half the country which is either living in or near poverty. Perhaps people wouldn't mind it as much if the burden were being evenly shared. But everyone knows that's not the case. In a time of record personal bankruptcies, record home foreclosures, record family and student debt, there are a group of people having the best years of wealth and profit ever recorded in human history. And it is those very people who have made the decisions to export our jobs, to decimate unions, to make college unaffordable, to start wars and to pay themselves with gluttonous joy while paying little or no tax -- this is the 1% that has created the burden so many Americans (and people around the world) now share.

And so, 75 years after the victory in Flint, the battle is now being fought all over again. But this time it's not just about getting paid a dollar an hour, or having Sunday off, or reducing the chance of your hand being crushed in the metal stamping machine. This time, the stakes are even greater: Who is going to own America and control the basic functions of our democracy -- the richest 1% who buy the politicians to get what they want, or the 99% who don't have much these days and live in anxiety or fear of what's around the bend.

I believe that justice will win out again, in the end, just as it did 75 years ago today in Flint in 1937.

I have no special plans to mark this day of anniversaries other than to post a short story I wrote called 'Gratitude.' You may have read it in my book, but if not, here it is to freely download and enjoy:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must-read/gratitude

If you'd like to hear me read it in my own voice, click here:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must-read/gratitude-audio

It tells, in part, the story of that day I first placed that roll of Kodak film into a movie camera. I am proud of the town I was born in, and I'm proud of my uncle who participated in the Sit-Down Strike. I am grateful to those of you who have gone to my movies over the years, and I thank all of you who have been inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement to speak up on behalf of the 99%.

There's no turning back now. Onward!

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com
@MMFlint
MichaelMoore.com

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

Soundtrack: Naruto - Yamagasumi

[Video from Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story' - Flint Sit-Down Strike]

This email note was in my inbox this morning from Michael Moore:

On this day, December 30th, in 1936 -- 75 years ago today -- hundreds of workers at the General Motors factories in Flint, Michigan, took over the facilities and occupied them for 44 days. My uncle was one of them.

The workers couldn't take the abuse from the corporation any longer. Their working conditions, the slave wages, no vacation, no health care, no overtime -- it was do as you're told or get tossed onto the curb.

So on the day before New Year's Eve, emboldened by the recent re-election of Franklin Roosevelt, they sat down on the job and refused to leave.

They began their Occupation in the dead of winter. GM cut off the heat and water to the buildings. The police tried to raid the factories several times, to no avail. Even the National Guard was called in.

But the workers held their ground, and after 44 days, the corporation gave in and recognized the UAW as the representative of the workers. It was a monumental historical moment as no other major company had ever been brought to its knees by their employees. Workers were given a raise to a dollar an hour -- and successful strikes and occupations spread like wildfire across the country. Finally, the working class would be able to do things like own their own homes, send their children to college, have time off and see a doctor without having to worry about paying. In Flint, Michigan, on this day in 1936, the middle class was born.

But 75 years later, the owners and elites have regained all power and control. I can think of no better way for us to honor the original Occupiers than by all of us participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement in whatever form that takes in each of our towns. We need direct action all winter long if we are to prevail. You can start your own Occupy group in your neighborhood or school or with just your friends. Speak out against economic injustice at every chance you get. Stop the bank from evicting the family down the block. Move your checking and credit card to a community bank or credit union. Place a sign in your yard -- and get your neighbors to do it also -- that says, "WE ARE THE 99%." (You can download signs here and here.)

Do something, anything, but don't remain silent. Not now. This is the moment. It won't come again.

75 years ago today, in Flint, Michigan, the people said they'd had enough and occupied the factories until they won. What is stopping us now? The rich have one plan: bleed everyone dry. Can anyone, in good conscience, be a bystander to this?

My uncle wasn't, and because of what he and others did, I got to grow up without having to worry about a roof over my head or medical bills or a decent life. And all that was provided by my dad who built spark plugs on a GM assembly line.

Let's each of us double our efforts to raise a ruckus, Occupy Everywhere, and get creative as we throw a major nonviolent wrench into this system of Greed. Let's make the politicians running for office in 2012 quake in their boots if they refuse to tax the rich, regulate Wall Street and do whatever we the people tell them to do.

Happy 75th!