My Father’s Birthday

Norman Johnson Sr.

Today is my father’s birthday. He passed away earlier this year on Valentine’s Day, and today he would have been 71 years old. What a gift to start this campaign in earnest on his birthday.

My father was not a wealthy man or well educated. He had to drop out of school in the 7th grade, in order to help support his brothers and sisters while my grandfather was in prison. He would tell me about his childhood shining shoes and how when he dropped out in the 7th grade he worked at a lumber yard with my uncle Buster - who I was originally named in honor of.

He worked hard, but life did not give him wealth or security. He passed away at his kitchen table alone. He was living in government housing and dependent on Medicaid - struggling to get to his medical appointments and to put food on his table at the age of 70.

We have to fight for a country where people don’t waste away struggling for just the basics of life. If we want better for those in our lives we have to fight for it. And fighting isn’t pretty and it’s not nice. It’s angry and it is sometimes mean. But Americans deserve to see people fight for them.