My visit to the Wagner Archives

Open on weekdays from 9:30 to 4,  My ENG101 class went on an interesting trip to the Wagner Archives in La Guardia Community College. Upon entry, the class was split between to small rooms. One room was rather decorated with organized shelves, red carpet, lamp lighting, and somewhat sophisticated atmosphere. The other, a small conference room with a round table and a rather large television. I was sat in the small conference room with a few of my classmates. Our tour guy, for lack of a better term,was a man named Steve. In the conference room, we held a nice discussion about the 1960's and explaining primary sources in the use of researching history. From newspaper cut-outs to television recordings, the Wagner Archives really had it all. Mr. Steve gave us copies of Mayor Robert F. Wagner's speech given July 22, 1964; when the Harlem Riots were at it's peak. After analyzing the speech line by line, we were able to grasp the violent and misunderstood atmosphere of Harlem at the time. In his remarks, the mayor described specifically how there were broken houses, angry gangs and residents sprawling the streets. Later on we went into the cold room where we saw journal writings and paraphernalia from the 1960's. One object that was very entertaining was the giant, gold glove Mohammed Ali signed for Mayor Beame. In one journal entry, which was written in German, Steve went into detail about how the lower east side of Manhattan was an area filled with fresh-off-the-boaters from Germany, Italy and so on. In the end, what I collected from all this was how much global activity started rising in the 60's, despite the Harlem Riots.

    In Mosley’s writing, we find democracy’s purpose has mutated from rights to riches. Science is growing both helpful and fearful while the greater flaws grow bigger under the cover of censorship. This is the obstacle in the pursuit of happiness.
    In chapter three of Workin on the Chain Gang, segregation limited the black American society to labor and recession of goods and rights. As Mosley portrays the image of the white society being distracted by media and wants, the black American society fought off segregation and that gave perspective to the "chains" in America.
   "The black American experience is the history of America. Our struggle to survive in the face of blinding hatred is in part a key to understanding how the chains forged in the modern world might be slipped and avoided in the future(Mosely 47)."

     In Robert Mosley's Workin' on the Chain Gang, Mosley exposes the reality of government, media, the working class and segregation. Although slavery seemed to be a big part of the picture during the 1960's, Mosley reveals the true crime happening behind it. Democracy's purpose has shifted from rules and regulation to money and monopoly. Science is growing stronger, more efficient, and expensive. It grows more convenient and also dangerous. Money shifts power in arguable places and flaws grow bigger under the wing of censorship in the media. These are the obstacles in the pursuit of happiness and even till this day, these conflicts continue to burden us.

     Although Mosley makes many valuable points throughout Workin on the Chain Gang, one perspective that caught my attention in his work was how he focused on the social connection to media. Here is an example of Mosley's take on society's connection with media.

     "Television is our opium, our nightly bowl of hazy, unfocused dreaming. And money is the super-drug, the one fix that you can't leave cold turkey because the withdrawal would be fatal (Mosley 6)."

     I find those lines to be crucial to Mosley's writing because he makes a comparison of society's mundane rituals to drugs. I also find these comparison great because every drug has it's withdrawals. Some easy and others challenging but the one "drug" that is life risking to break away from is money. Television may be a tough challenge for most and others near impossible, but unlike money, there is a rate of success according to Mosley. Sure we don't inject, inhale, nor drink television, but there is a physical and mental prices to pay when withdrawn from it. In such a short and simple phrase, Mosley shows how mentally drawn society is to media.

     In conclusion, Workin on the chain gang has an aggressive and powerful perspective on society's vulnerability. Even with government creating inequalities and being robbed blind of true democracy by corporationalism and monopoly, their flaws and many other conflicts are shielded from the media with censorship.