By: Anthony Davis

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

Bye-bye to the winter blues. Woody the Woodchuck, Michigan’s official groundhog who resides at the Howell Nature Center, predicted an early spring. She began forecasting the weather in 1999 and has accurately forecasted 65% of the time. Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, said six more weeks of winter. Phil has only been correct about 39% of the time. So, we will go with our own Woody the Woodchuck.

Whether we get more spring or more winter, we will be springing ahead for Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 2:00 a.m. Remember to check your clocks, not all will automatically go ahead one hour. (This is our monthly meeting day.)

According to multiple reports, approximately 20% of homes have non-operational smoke detectors. Daylight Saving Time is a great reminder to replace the batteries in your smoke detectors.

Our annual White Shirt Day celebration was held on February 11, 2025, at UAW Local 659, with another great turnout as usual. I always look forward to the videos and seeing the old photos. It definitely brings you back to the basics of why we fight for what we have. So much has changed and we owe everything to those before us.

I say this every year, but if you ever get a chance to watch the 2012 award-winning documentary Brothers on the Line, it is well worth your time. It covers the journey of the Reuther brothers.

February is Black History Month. Why February you ask? Black History Month is in February because of the February birthdays of two prominent American figures who were/are celebrated by the Black community. President Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday fell on February 12, was already honored in large part because of the Emancipation Proclamation he issued in 1863. The second influential figure was abolitionist Frederick Douglass, whose birthday was celebrated on February 14. After escaping from slavery, he became a prominent leader in the Abolitionist movement.

Black History Month wasn’t always a month-long celebration. In February 1926, historian and author Carter G. Woodson, created Negro History Week. It was a week-long celebration in an effort to teach people about African-American history and the contributions of Black people.

This effort was made under the umbrella of an organization he founded in September 1915 called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).

“I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to America’s historical narrative, but no one was talking about it,” said Kaye Whitehead, the organization’s president. “No one was centralizing it until Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926.”

After he passed away in 1950, members of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, which Dr. Woodson was a member of, did a lot of groundwork to encourage celebrating the week. The fraternity was also responsible for the push to extend the celebrations to a full month. Eventually, in 1976, President Gerald Ford became the first president to issue a message recognizing the month.

I would like to congratulate all of those who signed up for the Special Attrition Program (SAP). Best of luck in the next chapter of your life. Enjoy retirement and I hope to see everyone before your release date.

The Easter Bunny will arrive at our Easter Egg Hunt to be held on Sunday, April 6, 2025, at the UAW Local 659 Union Hall. The Easter Bunny will be here from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m., and the Easter Egg Hunt will be at 2:00 p.m. Mark your calendars.

Please remember that no matter who you are, or where you are from, we are all in this together!