Antoinette Brooks-Floyd Interview

ANTOINETTE BROOKS-FLOYD: Test, we start?

TRACI DRUMMOND: Yeah. Sorry. This is Traci Drummond, archivist for the Labor Archives at Georgia State University Library. And we're here today with um, Antoinette Brooks-Floyd, who's going to tell us a little bit about her history with the labor unions, and activism. And uh, today's date is November 20th, 2013. We are in Las Vegas, Nevada. And um, thank you Toni for agreeing to --

BROOKS-FLOYD: OK.

DRUMMOND: -- to be here with us today.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Sure.

DRUMMOND: Um, so the first question, and I just asked it, but there -- there was an issue with the recorder.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Um, where were you born, and -- and you started telling me a little bit about your --

BROOKS-FLOYD: I was born in New York City, um, in a hospital. Uh, Lennox Hill Hospital. And I was the first child of my parents, who had two more children later. Um, and at the time, they lived with my grandmother, who had I believe it was leukemia. And so, they were there as kind of caretakers. And they -- it was 00:01:00in Ardsley, New York. So um, as I grew up, um, I grew up and um -- in New York City, and --

DRUMMOND: And what did your parents do for a living?

BROOKS-FLOYD: My father was a um, Wall Street, um, investment banker. Um, my, um, mother did not work. But when the war came, which was in -- so I was born in 1939, so when the war came in 1940s, um, my -- we were living in New York at the time, and my -- my mom went to work, and she went to work for the New Yorker magazine. And she wrote um, the "Talk of the Town" part. But then, after the war, and after we got older, she um, quit her job and moved, we moved. She -- 00:02:00she became ill for much of my childhood, so she um, hurt her neck when uh, seven years after I was born, when she had my brother. And it -- since that time, she always had uh, health issues. Um, so we -- we lived um, across the street from another family, and when we moved to the suburbs, which people did after the war, I guess, it was very typical from what I read, um, we moved to Hastings on the Hudson, which is an interesting town, but that's another whole story. Um, and we moved onto an estate that had three houses. And my parents bought one, and the other family bought one. And while there were three in my family, there were four in -- in that family, and um, their name was Barnes, my name was Brooks, and when we went to school, we were like stepladdered. Each of us was in 00:03:00a different class, but they always got us confused. So we were like one big family. And it was nice, it was like having um, kind of two -- you know, two parents, you always had this adult in your life. So it was a -- it was a pretty good childhood.

DRUMMOND: So, even after y'all moved to the suburbs, did your dad um, did he continue to be an investment banker?

BROOKS-FLOYD: He did, but he -- they put him to another side of that. Uh, my dad was an alcoholic, and my um, my uncle was alcoholic, and my aunt was alcoholic. And uh, my other uncle was alcoholic. But the disease came on them, um, all at different times. And um, some of them were -- my dad is probably what you would call a functioning alcoholic for many years.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: But he was not as successful as he -- he could have been, you know, the big P for potential. Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Yeah, yeah. Well um --

BROOKS-FLOYD: And then my parents did get divorced.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK. Well, and was that when you were still pretty young, or was that --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Uh, I was about uh, 17.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. But I am remembered, I still get together with the kids from my class, we meet at different -- I went to a high school that had -- it was public school, about only 100 in the graduating class, really good, nice education, and um, we still get together now -- we got together every five years. We didn't even get together for the first 15, but then every five years, we get together. Now we get together every two and a half years, because we're dying off.

DRUMMOND: Right.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So um, but we meet in different cities. And we still, all the spouses and -- and people in that class, they -- we get together, but the big thing that they remembered really about me was that my parents got divorced. Because that was before -- all the parents, you know, in the '80s, was when every -- everybody's parents started getting divorced, yeah. So.

DRUMMOND: Um, so at 17, what did you know about labor unions? Because I --

BROOKS-FLOYD: I knew nothing. Yeah.

DRUMMOND: -- I guess I would imagine with your dad being an investment banker --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, my dad was Republican, and I was sick, um, when I was about, going into the fifth grade, fourth grade. And I -- we had a small country house in Culvert, Connecticut. And they would come and visit me, my dad would come one weekend, and my mom would come another weekend. And my dad cut it -- made cutout dolls, and it was kind of like a toy, you know, where you have a -- a person, and then you have -- make their clothes and everything.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And you cut it out, and put it. Well, he brought me one of Tom Dewey.

DRUMMOND: Wow.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, so I really miss him, because he died in 1984, but I really miss him because I -- of course, Democrat, he was Republican, but we -- you 00:06:00know, so we would call each other and, you know, yeah, you hear that, you know? We'd sort of, you know, be able to go back and forth. And so we had a good -- you know, he was accepting of uh, um -- my dad was an interesting person, I'll give you a story about my dad, um, and generation, um, later on in life, my -- my dad retired, and he lived in Orange-- down in Orange County, and he basically watched TV on his color TV and drank.

DRUMMOND: Orange County?

BROOKS-FLOYD: California.

DRUMMOND: California, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. And um, at that time I was in my second marriage, and my second marriage was to an African man, uh, American man. And we would go down there and visit, and one time, we're down there, my dad gets out the pictures, you know, when he was in school, and he went to uh, you know, like a prep school. And um, he's looking at the picture, and he goes oh, he says, you see? 00:07:00There was no African Americans, no -- no blacks. And, you know, then he's looking at the picture, and he's like, this thing comes over him, and he goes, there were no women there. So, it was like that moment when he realized that like, I was a person, you know?

DRUMMOND: Right, right.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Rather than, you know, the -- the girl. And so, that was, you know, it was -- that's kind of how my dad was, you know? He was sort of a victim of his times, and this disease.

DRUMMOND: OK. So what happened after you graduated high school? Did you get a job, did you go to college? Did you --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um --

DRUMMOND: -- what was next for you?

BROOKS-FLOYD: OK, I graduated high school --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- and I got pregnant, and I got married.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And --

DRUMMOND: To Thomas Hartley?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Thomas Hartney-Stuckland, yes.

DRUMMOND: Stuckland.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And I had a child by the time I was 19, my first child. Um, and 00:08:00um, I went to NYU, and I basically uh, talked my way into the best classes I could. I didn't take the thing. Previous to that, I had gone on weekends, you know, in Massachusetts and that area, there's so many good colleges.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So I would talk myself into, or get invited to weekend um, hear, you know, lectures and people that I wanted to hear. And uh, so that's kind of my -- I guess I started early, I thought it was -- but I really have taken responsibility for educating myself.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And the thing that I don't like about it is um, I didn't have a lot of discipline about it. But I -- what I like about it is, I didn't get anybody else's -- I got such a wide range of ideas and stuff. And I put in there that I -- I went to like uh, like junior colleges, like in -- in California.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, and um, I would do that after, you know, I worked and went to school, I had kids. But I would take mostly science and stuff, because I needed to learn the vocabulary so I could read about it.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So that -- that's --

DRUMMOND: So like, the hard like biology, chemistry, astrology?

BROOKS-FLOYD: No, well, geology --

DRUMMOND: Geology, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, that kind of thing, yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, so. Um, and also, you know, some political science and stuff like that.

DRUMMOND: OK. So you're not an arts and sciences gal?

BROOKS-FLOYD: No, well I'm dyslexic, as I put down, yeah.

DRUMMOND: Or I guess an arts gal, yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, yeah. I do, I -- I mean, I like to um, I love art, and I -- I do art myself. But um, it's what I like. Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Uh-huh. OK, that's great.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So I'm not, you know.

DRUMMOND: So what was your first job? Did you work in high school, or did you --

BROOKS-FLOYD: My -- yeah, my first -- I worked in the high school cafeteria, 00:10:00sold us, uh, um, sandwiches. Um, I worked uh, for my um, first father-in-law, he had a contracting business, and I, you know, would answer the phone and stuff like that. And um, I also worked very shortly for someone, he had a building and he sublet it to various people, and I worked for a time as um, assembling stuff. And um, I -- when I babysat, I babysat, um, for uh, a musician, and um, his wife. And um, he -- the child that I babysat for, well there's two of them, but the older one, instead of reading to them, um, he would say play Fats. And that was Fats Waller, and he had the old 78s, and we would put them on, and I really fell in love with jazz right then and there, because that man had such a 00:11:00sense of humor, he was really talking about the people of that time. And um, so then, um, this musician used to do like, um, uh, college dates and stuff like that, and um, then he would bring back, you know, the musicians and -- and he'd say, do you want to stay? And yeah, so I'd stay. And uh, so of course I got to hear really good live music, and that was really, really fun. Yeah, yeah. So, I had a -- you know, I really had a good, a lot of good things going in my childhood, yeah.

DRUMMOND: Right, that sounds really diverse.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Um, and so, you got married in 1958.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: And what was -- um, did you stay where you were, or did y'all move from there?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Uh, we stayed, um, we lived in a small apartment, um, at -- at his brother's for a while, in the basement. And then we moved to our own house, 00:12:00and the address was 12 Railroad Avenue, Yonkers, New York. And um, it was one of those shotgun places, you know, right? And um, it was the top floor of somebody else's, you know, it was like an apartment that they had made. And it was uh, you know, I -- I guess it was good. I -- I had um, he worked for his father, which was a little bit crazy. He -- he had had an accident in high school, and um, so he had one more year to finish, so he was finishing school, so the high school.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, and um, so it -- you know, uh, I kind of just did whatever came my way. But, you know, having children, you don't -- you, there's not that much that comes your way --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- at that time. So, uh, I didn't really worry, I was going to school, you know, as best I could.

DRUMMOND: Right. So when did you enter the workplace full-on?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, in 1964.

DRUMMOND: In 1964?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Uh-huh.

DRUMMOND: So that would have been enough time for your baby to get to uh, kindergarten, elementary school?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK. And um --

BROOKS-FLOYD: And I worked nights.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: When I went for the interview, they said, are you willing to work it 24 hours, because it's an airline? I said no, just nights.

DRUMMOND: OK. And that was TWA?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK. And where were those offices located?

BROOKS-FLOYD: They were located, at that time, they were located downtown Los Angeles, in a building that's no longer there.

DRUMMOND: So when did you get to Los Angeles? Because --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Oh, when did I move to Los Angeles?

DRUMMOND: Yeah, yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: OK, he -- my husband was working for his parents.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And um, it was not a good situation, because they were the -- and um, of course, he was -- he was an alcoholic too, but I didn't know that. I just thought he was a gambler. I mean, you know, that -- but um, so we decided we were going to move. We really needed to -- to get away from parents, and 00:14:00stuff, and so we had two places in mind. One was Maine, and the other one was Los Angeles. And Maine because, you know, there's a farm there, and we like -- we like the people, and um, he liked it. And I -- I picked Los Angeles, I liked Los Angeles because -- and this is so ironic, because it was cheap to live, you could raise kids, you know, I knew I would go crazy with kids in an apartment in the winter.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And um, the -- you know, housing, everything was -- was great, it was a great place to move. And so, we just um, that's what we did.

DRUMMOND: Those postwar years.

BROOKS-FLOYD: This was 1961.

DRUMMOND: OK. Oh, so even later, yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: So y'all headed to Los Angeles?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Just -- yeah, just got in the car and did it.

F1: Sorry. Are they using that office too? We're getting ready to put all of our storage back, and they were told to put in here.

DRUMMOND: So we were talking about how you guys got to Los Angeles.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Right. And um, we picked LA because of -- we thought it would be a good place to move with children, and it was economical, we could afford it, and we could both get education. Um, and so we moved. And we just um, I flew with the kids, and my husband drove out in a car that we sold, that um, they couldn't stop it. I mean, they could -- like if you turned the ignition off, then it would be all over, so they just kept going.

DRUMMOND: Oh wow. So then that means they didn't -- when they filled up with gas, they didn't turn off?

BROOKS-FLOYD: No. Well in those days, it was a little different. I know. (laughter)

DRUMMOND: Well I'm glad you made it.

BROOKS-FLOYD: We -- there was a -- I know, it's amazing the things we did and not -- didn't realize in those days, it was quite, you know. Um, so anyway, we got -- got in an apartment that was um, it was kind of like a motel type of apartment, in that it had an inner courtyard and two stories. And we settled in 00:16:00an area called Culver City, which was about eight miles from the beach. Um, and there were a lot of people, young people, who had kids.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And had husbands that worked, and they stayed home. And so, we would put all the kids in the courtyard, and we -- they had something called a Helm's Bakery, like it was a truck that would come by with donuts and everything every morning, and we'd buy our donuts, make the coffee, and sit in somebody's apartment and watch our kids.

DRUMMOND: Nice.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, it got boring though.

DRUMMOND: Yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: It got real boring. And every once in a while, somebody had a second car, and uh, I used to be pretty good with cars, so I -- you know, I could fix the mufflers, take some chewing gum, and do what I -- to get it going, and we'd take the kids to the beach. And um, the beach then was not as developed, uh, and just where um, kind of like Venice Beach there, and uh, the -- they had -- were able to, if you've been to Los Angeles, you know the beach 00:17:00is very, very long, it's unlike the Atlantic Ocean. And so, we were able to play volleyball, watch the kids, and do all that at the same -- you know, at the same time. And uh, we just used to hang out. Yeah, it was very nice. But it did get boring.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: My husband, by this time, he was working, um, for uh, he started working for Bank of America at night, and then we had a friend who was in the movie business, so he got a job with Cinerama, which was -- went out of business, of course. Yeah. Uh, but he had a job there, and he sometimes had to work nights. So, I just was bored out of my gourd. I needed adult something.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And I had a friend that worked at TWA, and they had hired people. And um, but then they didn't have enough people. And this was in the '60s, 00:18:00this was when they really wanted workers, it was amazing. And um, so she told me about the job, I went down to get the job, and I had an inter-- interview, I had took -- I had to take a test, and I -- because I'm dyslexic, I knew that I could never be a secretary or anything like that.

DRUMMOND: Right.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And I felt like I really -- for women, um, remind me to tell you the story about what happened to NYU about women. So, I -- I did uh, take a math test, which a lot of women couldn't -- couldn't pass. So I passed that with flying colors, and I went for the interview, and the guy, when he started talking about well, um, when you come to work for us, um, parking is a little limited, and he started talking about a parking space that I'd have, I knew I had the job. So, which kind of surprised me, that it was that easy.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: You know, I just fell into it. And it's kind of the story of my life, I've fallen into everything that I've gotten. Um, so then I started 00:19:00working, and I worked uh, 6:00 to 10:00 at night, and I -- uh, my husband theoretically would come home and watch the kids. And then um, I had a friend, and by this time we lived in another apartment, um, and I had a friend in another apartment, I -- I just got to know her, and we used to just trade babysitting --

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- we never had formal childcare. And then there was also an older woman who lived in my building, and she would come and watch the kids. Her name was Schatze, and she was blind, kind of going blind --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- and it was great, because the kids -- she would trip over stuff, and the kids would all -- and she'd break things when she'd wash dishes. So the kids got really good, because they didn't want her to trip, or break the dishes, or whatever.

DRUMMOND: Right, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So they kind of bonded well, and they were -- you know, they really were better for her than they were for me.

DRUMMOND: Oh, nice.

BROOKS-FLOYD: But I was going to tell you about -- yeah.

DRUMMOND: Yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So when I was at NYU, and I -- as I said, I would take all these classes, and I spent a lot of time like in the lunch room, and -- with, you know, sort of anarchy type friends and stuff. And um, there's two stories I have. One was that a group of them decided that they wanted me to run for president of something, student council or something, I can't remember what it was. And I was, you know, not -- so I said OK, and I -- you know, I put my name in. And well, I didn't know that there was this whole thing, like if you want to go to medical school, you want to go to graduate school or, you know, I was like totally naïve that you had to get one of these jobs, like president of something, or whatever. So, um, uh, when the ballot came out, they -- my name is Brooks, B-R-O-O-K-S. Well they -- they had me down as Crooks. (laughter) And I looked on a typewriter, and C is not anywhere near B. No. It was not a typo. So that was my lesson --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- one lesson about the male world. You know, because at that time, it was males that were, you know, in a -- as a fraternity that did, you know, everybody from that, OK. Second thing I learned about the male world, because I was, you know, my high school was good, we were all kind of -- and I was brought up that you could do anything you wanted. So I was in the cafeteria, and this person came along and said, "Would you like to be in a story about women -- I mean, about college life?" And I said sure. And they said, "Would you be available for pictures, to take pictures and stuff like that?" And I said, sure. And it was for the Herald Tribune, which was a competitor with the New York Times, but they went out of business. Everything I ever did went out of business. (laughter)

BROOKS-FLOYD: So, OK. So, the article comes out, and they say -- I signed the release and everything, and the article comes out, and they said we'll send 00:22:00you a thing. And it was the -- the name of the article was, "Are women taking up space" -- it was Sputnik time "Are women taking up space in our colleges?" Because they're just going to get married and have kids. And there was my picture, you know, they had one at the (inaudible) at the blackboards, with a big X through it. And so I realized then that, you know, these --

DRUMMOND: That's appalling.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well, and this was -- this was not some backward paper.

DRUMMOND: No.

BROOKS-FLOYD: You know, so that --

DRUMMOND: I'm sorry.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- I was lucky that I -- but in a way, that I really got it right away. You know, be-- before I even got to California. And then you get to California, and it's very open, very -- a little different.

DRUMMOND: Yeah, yeah. OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, so.

DRUMMOND: And you were just about to start telling me about your first job as a reservationist, part-time, evenings, you worked in that same job --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: -- from 1964 to 1990.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yes.

DRUMMOND: What -- what --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Technological advances did I see?

DRUMMOND: I -- yeah, I mean I -- I think we should definitely cover that. But um, but um, just in terms of maybe how women were treated in the job, I think that there might be differences in there. And also, um, and -- and was that the machinists union organized that the whole time, or no?

BROOKS-FLOYD: No. There was no union. There was no union at all.

DRUMMOND: There was no union -- OK, OK, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: None, that's why it was -- no, I went to work, there was absolutely no union. No senior-- there wasn't seniority, (inaudible) Labor Act, which is different than Tartley. Um, so they did have somewhat of a system of sen-- seniority, but part-timers had no seniority, none.

DRUMMOND: Right.

BROOKS-FLOYD: It was not the -- it was the same -- so, what happened is that I worked, uh, part-time, and at that time, you wrote everything on a 3x5 card, and 00:24:00everything was in code. And you put it down a belt. And there was a dress code, you -- I've been told at work that my skirts are too short, my skirts are too long, you can't wear boots, um, you know. And I'm a pretty conservative dresser, so -- and everybody got that, you know, that -- and there was a lot of um, what you might say sexual harassment in the office, a lot of uh, coming by and rubbing your shoulder and, you know, all that --

DRUMMOND: Yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- yeah, crappy stuff. So um, but that was the times, too, I think.

DRUMMOND: Right. Well did anything ever happen that really crossed a line so severely that -- that --

BROOKS-FLOYD: No, not to me.

DRUMMOND: Not to you, OK, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: No, no. And -- and um, not that I know -- I mean there wasn't a culture of -- of uh, sexual harassment, yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: It was more like in the military life. I mean, it was like railroad, airlines, a lot of these people came from the military, and so it was 00:25:00very, you know, there's management and workers, and then there were women workers, you know? And we were just like the lower of the low.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: But the pay was very good, very good for part-time.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: It was the same pay as the full-time, only you worked less hours. So, after a couple of years, I was working, and um, I was called into the office for a um, for some infraction or whatever, I had no idea, I can't remember. But I didn't last very long before I started crying, like a minute. So after whatever happened, um, I came out, I sat down, and I remember this so clearly, um, I said to myself, you can um, you can quit this job, just quit it. And I 00:26:00said no, you can't do that, you've got two kids, your marriage is really rocky, you -- you know. Um, so then I said well, you can learn to keep your mouth shut. And then I knew enough about myself then. (laughter)

BROOKS-FLOYD: No, I couldn't do that. So, the third thing was, you can learn to go there and stay two minutes. And that's what I did. And I learned how to last two minutes, and three minutes, four minutes. And then I started, we had the ability to arbitrate under the Railway Labor Act. And there were a couple people in my office that did that, and they kind of mentored me, and took me under their wing, and um --

DRUMMOND: And they were women or men?

BROOKS-FLOYD: One man, and one woman.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And um, they showed me how to represent other people. So then 00:27:00people started coming to me, and um, and them, and you know, when they would go in, they had a series, you know, grievance, you get your verbal warning, and so, just like if you had a union, only you don't have a union.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So, what happened is that um, over time, we -- they retired, and I was like, I was doing all these grievances for people, and of course it got -- and it gets crazy, there's all this intrigue, it was like one big office, many women -- so somebody would get in trouble, and then they'd tell somebody else, there was all this gossip. And then you're representing people, and you're going in, and then so now, the management doesn't like you very much, they're really, you know, like what's wrong with her? Um, but then they have to work with you, because they respect -- you know, they respect you. So um, I realized that we needed a union, and so did other people in the -- in the -- my 00:28:00group. So --

DRUMMOND: And was any other part of TWA organized at the time?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yes. Not -- yes, they -- the machinists were on the property as um, um, mechanic, and I believe they had the ramp at that time, too.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: OK. Um --

DRUMMOND: Was ALPA in there with the airline pilots at the time?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, ALPA was --

DRUMMOND: They might have been formed later.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- the T -- right. I'm not sure about the um, the airline pilots. However, I will say that the United Airline pilots --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- um, we first began to figure out -- so I joined -- I actually joined the ACLU workers rights committee. And I started finding out a lot about unions, what they were.

DRUMMOND: OK, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, Paul Shrade from, um, the um, auto workers, I think he had been a vice president of auto workers, he was one of the guys that was shot with 00:29:00Kennedy, um, in Los Angeles. Um, and um --

DRUMMOND: With Reagan.

BROOKS-FLOYD: No.

DRUMMOND: With Kennedy?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Robert.

DRUMMOND: Robert, OK. Sorry.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, sorry. Um, so he and -- and there was uh, some guys, called Zellerbach seven, and -- and so I started to really learn about what contracts were, you know, just by osmosis, and we -- and we -- I also learned some organizing type things, because we used to do um, we started this thing called the Golden Lunchbox Award, and we took a regular lunchbox and spray painted it. (laughter) And then we'd give it to, you know, somebody and, you know, but -- so I learned a lot of those techniques for stuff. So um, and that I -- I started learning about what we needed in that workplace. And -- and how to maybe get it there. All right. So one of the things that we figured out is that we needed a 00:30:00-- a -- a split in class and craft. Because we worked 24 hours, we were in a reservation's office, and they were classifying us with clerical, and Kansas City all had cushy, you know, 9 to 5 jobs, didn't have to worry about seniority, whatever. And there was no chance that we could win if -- if we didn't get that, uh, class and craft split. And the United pilots actually helped us do that. Now why they did that, I really don't remember, I don't know why. So, we did um, get that. And then um, this -- I-- this is embarrassing, but uh, we read the Railway Labor Act backwards and forwards, right? And there were -- and by this time, we had sort of formed a little in plant type of thing. And coincidentally, uh, we had formed -- we had decided -- 00:31:00we got laid off, there was this layoff, late '70s I think. Um, and they laid off all the part-time. So, we went down to unemployment and um, said -- and they said well no, we didn't -- we didn't lay you off, we just reduced your hours to zero. At -- but we won the unemployment, obviously.

DRUMMOND: Uh-huh.

BROOKS-FLOYD: But we realized that the company was not on our side.

DRUMMOND: Right.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. So that even radicalized more people. So, we got -- we did have this in plant thing, and it -- what we decided to do is to uh, work to get seniority. And um, we did -- well, we used the grievance procedure to do that, and we never used the word part-time, we did regular employee, reduced hours, and we took it step, by step, by step. And of course, they were always trying to 00:32:00-- we didn't have anything to back us up except that Railway Labor Act, but um, they did-- didn't want to be bad citizens, so they would just, you know, they'd sort of talk to you like um, they were going to do something, but they let it, so we -- we always got a bad answer, which we could then take it to the next step. So finally, we get to the top guy, and the only reason we got to the top guy, even though we had the right to appeal, is we went through his secretary, and his -- and his secretary we, you know, we just convinced her. And so she convinced him to hear it. And she also told us what to say and how to present it to him. And we did.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And there were three people that were elected to go and talk to this guy, and I was one of them. So, we go and we talk to him. Dave Crombie was his name. And um --

DRUMMOND: Can you spell that?

BROOKS-FLOYD: C-R-O-M-B-I-E, I think.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And he came down with the decision that we would get seniority, but it was like, you had to work 5,000 -- you know, five years, 5,000 hours, so it was very tricky --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- seniority thing. But we got it. And so we came back to the office, um, people -- there were supervisors that actually quit over that. We were communists, we were um, I can't tell you, you know, they just -- because they had that male military attitude.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And so, you know, we were just, whatever. So then it became even more uh, obvious. So we really, you know, we couldn't be getting everybody's secretary on our side. So we had to have something a little more permanent. So we said OK, we'll take the Railway Labor Act. And we took it, we look at it, who's responsible for um, actually I guess enforcing it? It's the Attorney 00:34:00General of the United States. So, there had been no litigation on this. Everybody wanted to leave it alone, especially because of -- when Eastern came and there was some litigation in it, nobody wanted to mess with it, because they could lose stuff, or gain stuff, whatever. So, we go down, about three of us, we go down to the office of the Attorney General in Los Angeles. And I'm trying to remember the guy's name, because he was really, you know, and we say, you know, you're -- you're responsible for this, and this is what's going on. And all this. He must have dined out on this story for a long time. (laughter)

BROOKS-FLOYD: And uh, but you know what? He was really gracious. He said you know, I know, but there's been the -- you know, there's nothing we can really do because there's no -- but, he said, um, I'll give you some books. And he did, he gave us um, some really good books to read about unions, and um, the law, and the Railway Labor Act, and what had been written on it. And um, and 00:35:00uh, and he was extremely helpful. So um, then the -- we uh, we looked around for a union, and the union that really was interested, um, was the Teamsters. Now the IAM was not interested, because we were women, we were not um, machinists, and the machinists, they were having their own problems with, you know, it's -- it's a craft union, that's --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- IAM. So, what happened there is um, the Teamsters came, organized, we organized, we organized in plant. And they're good organizers, but we lost. It was close, but we lost. Then, um, a little bit later, uh, the communication workers came along, and they were very good.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And it would have been a good fit, and they -- they had a different way of organizing, and they -- it was kind of -- they have a lot of 00:36:00educated, fairly educated people, and um, about three quarters through that um, drive, um, AT&T went on strike, and [Lord and Bar?] had to pull out all -- everybody, because they -- you know, that was the strike, so they had to pull out of that drive.

DRUMMOND: And what year would that have been?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, I'm not good on years.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: But, you know.

DRUMMOND: Would that have been before '70, or?

BROOKS-FLOYD: No, it was probably after '70, yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: But probably mid -- maybe mid '70s.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. And so, um, that one went down the tubes. Um, then um, the next one was the machinists came in. But they only came in because, I think maybe the Teamsters came in again, I can't even remember. But um, the -- IFA 00:37:00and the Teamsters and the IAM. So I think by that time, the uh -- they were saying to the -- to um, the IAM with -- somebody was saying, you know, like we're never going to get them, and that there started to be that feeling that they wanted to bring in more people. So, um, so we had an election, and actually the -- the IAM won, which was really good. And so my dream was, I was going to be the committee person for that um, office.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And I did, I got that job, um, well we had waited, by the time we -- they, uh we won the election, until we got a contract, we weren't actually in the union. So, um, the contract -- I would go to the union meetings, but we weren't uh, so I think it's two years, or maybe it was even three. Um.

DRUMMOND: Before you got a contract?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Wow.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Oh yeah, with the airlines, it's -- even if you have a contract, it's two and three years. It's terrible. So then, um, I had that job as a committee person for two weeks. And then, I um, again, fell into another job, I got called up by my district, and they offered me a job, um, to -- as a general chairperson, or what they call a business rep (inaudible).

DRUMMOND: And what district was that?

BROOKS-FLOYD: District 142.

DRUMMOND: District 142, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And uh, so I -- I went up there, and I was like, uh --

DRUMMOND: And when you say up there?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Kansas City.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Kansas City, they were in Kansas City. So I went to Kansas City, and um, Carla Winkler, who was a flight attendant, you probably know or have done something with her, um, she was the only other woman there, and she had brought in a -- a group of flight attendants from Continental at District 142. So, um, she came behind me and she goes, "thank God, another woman. Like 00:39:00that." But actually, in the part that I did, she -- she kind of had flight attendants, it was Continental, but I was dealing with like TWA people, and -- and stuff like that. So, I didn't -- they tried, but they really didn't give me much of a -- um, enough training. I got -- I got to go to um, Placid Harbor --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And that was it. And -- and it was good, that was my education. So, um, because they were all so busy. Everybody let -- went different directions. But at my local lodge --

DRUMMOND: But that -- but the Winpisinger center wasn't built until the late '70s, early '80s, so that would have been --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well they -- we didn't get the union until um, '90.

DRUMMOND: Yeah. OK, oh, OK, oh.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, this is a long process.

DRUMMOND: So, OK, OK. So I -- OK, this has covered a lot of the territory.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, I mean we had these drive, but this was years before, 00:40:00between drives, so yeah. Um, so we um, my local lodge, 1111, had um, they represented, there were a couple of unions that were in that same building. Um, 1932, 1111, uh, I think there was a tiger, Flying Tigers, um, thing for a while. Anyway, one of the reps from um, United, which was District 141, um, he kind of took me under his wing. And um, let me shadow him, and he had a lot of the West Coast, um, area. And so, I shadowed him for a while and learned how to do the -- the actual job. And then Placid Harbor taught me um, I mean I had been doing arbitration, I had done -- I want to say one time, they -- they used to do things like, that's why I knew we needed a contract, they'd come in, and they'd have two lawyers now, because some -- the way I won grievances was very 00:41:00-- or arbitration, I knew the company would lie, so the only thing that I had to do was figure out how to get them to lie, and ask the right questions to get them to lie, and then catch them in it, and then I'd win. I didn't have to know a lot -- I didn't know a lot of stuff.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: I didn't have that knowledge, really. I just had -- I had street knowledge or something. Yeah. And that -- that was basically my tactic. So when I went to Placid Harbor, I learned, yeah, you have this hearing of the case, you know, you -- you do this, they helped, you know, teach me better ways to organize stuff. But I did it, I -- sometimes I'd have two lawyers, and they'd go oh, you can do it. You know, no, you can't. You're not going to win when, you know, there's two lawyers against you.

DRUMMOND: Right, right.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. So. You know, I wanted to keep the company quiet, and I'm 00:42:00the only one to argue it. So, um, yeah. So -- so I learned, you know, I -- and that's why I'm here today actually is uh, they really gave me my real education.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Placid Harbor.

DRUMMOND: And so, um, not only were you finally organized in '90 --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: -- but you also went full-time then.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, I went full-time, um, when -- after we got the union, I went full-time. My kids were grown, and there was op -- opportunity to go full-time.

DRUMMOND: OK, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And I knew I couldn't be a rep, the IAM would not make me a rep if I was um, part-time.

DRUMMOND: OK, OK. Um, so when they called you up to the district 142, what were they -- what were you helping them with mainly there? Was that the --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, the district, you know, uh, the general chair, you sort -- 00:43:00basically what you do is um, each one of us did the same thing, we got the same salary, and we did pretty much the same thing. Although if someone were more qualified than others, so they would assign you, um, stations. Well, um, I got crappy stations because I was the new person on the block. Um, Robert Roach and I came in at the same time.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. Robert, um, one -- one experience Robert and I had, when District 100 Eastern went out -- went belly up, all the reps that represented Eastern were -- were gone, were -- you know, lost their jobs. But there were two uh, reps. Um, that -- uh, general chairs, that represented the uh, foreign carriers that District 100 had. And they merged those uh, carriers into District 00:44:00142. So these guys, I guess they thought they'd keep their job, which would be a reasonable assumption, right? Well, and it's New York, right? And Robert and I get this assignment. No other person from our district comes, you know, we get this assignment, you two go down and tell them you're their new reps. Because they weren't going to take on, I forget the two guys' names. Um, they weren't going to take them, right? And so, Robert and I --

DRUMMOND: Can I ask a question? Were they white?

BROOKS-FLOYD: They were white males, and they had been doing really good -- pretty good jobs.

DRUMMOND: Yeah, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: OK?

DRUMMOND: So then a woman and an African American --

BROOKS-FLOYD: American show up --

DRUMMOND: Ouch. Ouch.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. So, we showed up, we handled it, we even had one guy invite 00:45:00-- invite us back to the Christmas party, but the guys were there. So it was a big -- it was -- it was -- it was drama, it was drama. But we handled it.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. So you're not -- you know, it's -- and those are the things you -- you -- there's -- you can't teach anybody how to handle that.

DRUMMOND: No.

BROOKS-FLOYD: You really can't.

DRUMMOND: Uh-uh. Uh-uh.

BROOKS-FLOYD: It's just experience. You know. Um, so Robert -- Robert had had the experience of being a uh, president of a local, so he -- you know, he knew how to handle local. And I -- and I -- I was pretty good with people.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So, we managed.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Good. Um, oh I'm sure you more than managed. Um, so um, I want to talk -- so you were a reservationist --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: -- and you mentioned earlier that in the beginning, you would fill out a -- a card --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Mm-hmm.

DRUMMOND: -- like a punch card.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Right.

DRUMMOND: And then it would --

BROOKS-FLOYD: No, it was a 3x5 -- regular 3x5 card, but it had preprinted on it, um, like where they were going, the name, and everything like that. And then, there was like a little rubber band belt with the little um, fences on either side. And it would go down to somebody who was quality control to make sure that everything on that card was filled in. Not that necessarily it was right, but that, you know, it was filled in.

DRUMMOND: Yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So, um, what they would do then is they would file it in shoeboxes by name in the back, they had what they called a records department.

DRUMMOND: Based on flight? The -- the --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Based on the flight.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Each flight.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: All right, and just before I came, just before I hired in, um, they used to get -- do phone calls every 45 minutes, and they would have a board, and they would chalk off which flights were available or not available, and so forth. But when I first came in, within a couple months, and they gave me 00:47:00good training, sent me to New York, I had three weeks of training, learned all the -- you know, nowadays I don't think anybody does that kind of training. And you really need it.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, so they um, they have something called -- I don't know if you've ever seen that kids' game where you -- you push a -- like a stylus, and it lights up, it's yes or no kind of thing?

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. Well that's what it was, it was called a teleregister, I think it was called teleregister. And there were three -- you had a card that you slipped into this teleregister, and it would show you whether the -- the flight was uh, sold out, whether it was um, available, or whether it was on yellow condition, which meant that you could sell it, but you um, you had to call somebody to get a -- to get a seat, you know? It's like, all right. So, 00:48:00um, we had that system, um, with the 3x5 cards. Now, American Airlines is getting a computer, IBM is developing a computer for them. All right, so uh, they get this computer, I guess this is 19 -- in let's see, 1983, 4, something like that.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Maybe in there. I'm just not quite sure. So they get this computer, and um, everything is working real good. OK, now the main problem in airlines for um, selling seats is you're selling a seat, which once it leaves, you have no chance to sell that again, you know? But also, you have to -- because you have a -- a large number of people that don't show up, you um, have to build into your systems some way that you can oversell your seats. 00:49:00Otherwise, you're going to go broke.

DRUMMOND: Do you think that happens today, that people just don't show up? Or do you think that --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well they -- they have um, we were regulated then.

DRUMMOND: OK. That's right, deregulation, and the -- yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Which really changed a lot of stuff.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So um, we would get -- like in Vegas, you know, it was just -- you -- you could tell somebody that they'll stand by, because they're always going to get on, you know, because people just don't show up. So they had it built into the -- anyway, American got theirs. So we were supposed to get Burroughs, another company that went out of business and, the story of my life, right? So we were going to get the Burroughs, and it was going to be better than anything. They even named it, Charlie, right? For whatever reason, we were going to get this computer, Charlie, OK, well a year goes by, another year goes by, and a couple more years go by, we're still not getting this computer. Then 00:50:00United, they got IBM to do theirs. Now American had a proprietary system from IBM, so the leftovers basically went to United, and they built them a system that somehow didn't -- didn't compete with the system for uh, American. Um, American, yeah. So now, we're going to get a better system than anybody, right? No. (laughter)

BROOKS-FLOYD: Burroughs goes out of business, so what do we do? We get the third proprietary system from IBM, which is a piece of junk. There was all different programs for different things, if somebody wanted to do -- you know, so it took like, hours to make a -- a reservation, plus you had to teach people how to, you 00:51:00know, none of us knew how to work computers. So, um, it was pretty bad. It was pretty bad.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm. So I imagine you had to learn some basic code to -- and commands and stuff to put your -- to put the reservations in?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. Well you did -- you do -- you did the reservations, so now -- now what happened is, you're computerized, right? What it -- how did you compute, do things before you were computerized? You had teletype operators. So we had all these people that got paid by the word -- word. Now they're obsolete, because you're in a computer, but they give them our job. You know, that was nice, but the only thing is, you find you're sitting next to somebody, and they're typing at 100 words a minute. (laughter) And you're going...

DRUMMOND: Ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. So you realize, I've got to learn this or else I'm going to be out of a job pretty soon.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Because you're trying to talk, do the -- you know, you realize, you know. So um, I uh, by that time, since I'm dyslexic, I had gotten -- I had helped some people with grievances, and one person had this system that this guy who was Iranian, but he called himself Persian, everybody at that time was calling themselves Persian. Um, but he managed to put parts together and come up with um, you know, like a computer. And I think it was like, $1,200 or something. But it was -- that was really cheap for the thing. And actually --

DRUMMOND: And that would have been early to mid '80s?

BROOKS-FLOYD: And -- yeah, about '84 or '5, something like that.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So I got myself a computer, and a very primitive, um, word -- a word thing, and it changed my life. I could, you know, now I could write so much better. Um, and then there -- I learned how to touch type. And um, so I'm 00:53:00still not fast, but I -- you know, I could -- I can read and uh, do that.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, so um, yeah, and that basically then, that -- getting the computers, they -- they just kept, you know, kind of um, improving a little bit. But that was basically the end of -- of the technology in -- in the airline industry. And then basically, it all went downhill, and we got deregulated, we lost money, I think 16 years or something, and finally went out of business.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: I mean I -- that sort of sums it up a little bit but, you know, you'd have -- you'd have the uh, pilots would want to take over the airlines, so they'd make a pilot, and then the -- the bean counters would want to take over for them, and then we had Icon, who was famous for breaking up uh, companies, and um, um, he actually kept us alive more than he probably would, 00:54:00because he had this great thing that he did --

DRUMMOND: Icon, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- um, which um, and people would disagree on this. But he -- he had figured out how to get bonds, and keep the company afloat, um, by -- he would take like a -- a light bulb from one plane, and an engine from another, and a system from another plane, so there was no way that they could foreclose any -- so he had these bonds, and people bought them. It was kind of like the original mess there. And -- and -- and he just um, he just basically figured out that the pieces of an airline were better than -- and it also, uh, Ozark had merged, and he -- I think they had a pretty good pension, and he was able to tap into that.

DRUMMOND: OK, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, so.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So there were different ways that they tried to save the airline, but none of them really worked in the long run.

DRUMMOND: Right, right, right. Um, and of course, other airlines have -- because what, TWA was what year?

BROOKS-FLOYD: That it went --

DRUMMOND: Yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- belly up? Um, 2000?

DRUMMOND: Yeah. And 10 years before, there had been Eastern.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Uh --

DRUMMOND: Which was plagued by --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well Eastern went out because of their own -- you know, because of the strike.

DRUMMOND: Yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And um, Lorenzo was really uh, went over. Um, what did shock me was Pan-Am going out. Because they had everything, they had the political power, they had really good employees, really -- really knowledgeable, they trained their employees well, and they had loyal customers. They had customers, you know, that -- from around the world, because they were going around the world, and uh --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm. And what year did they --

BROOKS-FLOYD: They went out, I know it was like, I think it was even before 00:56:00computers. I -- I mean, it was like such a shock, because um, they merged with National Airlines in Florida, I guess to get some domestic routes, and the culture, it just destroyed them. They just never worked together, they never -- I don't know whether it was management --

DRUMMOND: I remember National Airlines.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: From when I was younger.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, yeah. So.

DRUMMOND: Huh, OK. Um, so you got -- you were a reservationist from '64 until 2000.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Mm-hmm.

DRUMMOND: Which is when you retired.

BROOKS-FLOYD: I retired -- yeah, I retired -- no, I -- well I still kept my job at uh, district for a while.

DRUMMOND: Oh, OK, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: So you continued to work.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK. At 142.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well yeah, I didn't um, uh --

DRUMMOND: Because for a while there, then that means you would have been um, in the union, but also working for the district. Did you -- were you holding offices --

BROOKS-FLOYD: I took a leave.

DRUMMOND: Oh, you took a leave, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: With TWA. So I was like, working with TWA.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And I was on leave.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: That's the proceed-- usual, the usual procedure (overlapping dialogue; inaudible).

DRUMMOND: OK, OK, all right. I knew that. I -- I really did. I mean I do, but uh, it's not something I -- I work -- I -- I work with every day.

BROOKS-FLOYD: No problem.

DRUMMOND: Um no, because I've talked to -- I mean, (inaudible).

BROOKS-FLOYD: It's a whole different language, the union thing. And It -- and it uh, the Railway Labor Act is a whole different thing as well. So, sometimes, you know, people don't realize that, you know, that -- and I don't know Taft-Hartley that well, people ask me questions and I really don't know.

DRUMMOND: Don't ask me any questions about any -- (laughter) about any of that stuff. Um, so from '66 to '75, you talked a little bit about being, um, with ACLU, the workers' rights committee.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Mm-hmm.

DRUMMOND: And um, from 2001 to present, the friends of the Washington Irving Library Branch.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Mm-hmm.

DRUMMOND: So what do you do with the library?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well, we have um, I think 72 branch libraries in LA. And um, what I do is, I'm president of um, the friends group for my library, and we have a bookstore, and we sell books, and then we provide programs and help, you know, for the library. Um, I came about it, I got involved locally to save anoth -- our library, they wanted to build a new one, and we had a really -- it was a real reading library, you know, you know, they wanted um, to have computers and all that, but I didn't -- I wasn't for that. So anyway, I -- it was so bad that they had to bring in mediators for the neighborhood.

DRUMMOND: Wow.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, it was -- it got really bad. So anyway, they promised all these things if we went along with the -- with the new library. Well, they built a new library and they didn't come up with their promises, because the budget got cut, and the landscaping never really happened, and they didn't put a gate where they should have, and there was drug dealing and, you know, people are not going to --

DRUMMOND: And what neighborhood? But what (overlapping dialogue; inaudible).

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, I live in Mid-City area of LA, yeah. Um, so um, they -- you know, people just aren't going to come to a place that's like that.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So, after a while, I -- I said, I looked -- again, I had one of these little talks with myself, and said um, you know, you've got your resentment here, you've got to get rid of it, what can I do to get rid of the resentment? Well go and participate in the friends of the library, and see how you can help. So I did, and I started going to meetings. But I am -- I just have to run things, I'm very controlling. (laughter) OK? Uh, so um, I'm better, I 01:00:00work at it, I work a 12 step program for that. And uh, but at that time, I just couldn't deal with the fact -- and so I started taking over the meetings, but there was a, um, president, but he would never show up, and then finally, one day, he just never showed up.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So, um, they said to me why don't you just -- well we want to do something, they said uh, why don't you just act like the president? And so I said, OK, I'll do acting president. And then they wanted uh, I don't know, we wanted -- we didn't have no money, right? We started making money, we started doing stuff. And they said well, why don't you um, uh, when you sign that letter -- you know, because we were having a program or something, why don't you just sign as president? (laughter) I said, OK. But the good part is, everybody works hard because they're so thankful that I'll be -- I'm the president, right?

DRUMMOND: Right, right, right.

BROOKS-FLOYD: You know? And um, so uh, we have a bookstore, and also the library, I -- I work at the library, um, I tutored, um, a developmentally disabled person for two years. But you had to be real consistent, and then I started working more for my union after I retired, so that -- I gave that up. But the good part is that in LA, the libraries are very uh, radical, we're dealing with um, they're centers now for um, immigration rights. They're centers for, you know, training and jobs, getting your GED, getting jobs. And that -- that is set down by the mayor, our last mayor just started -- you know, started that.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And um, so just trying to make it a really good center for um, learning. And I've come to, you know, people do need to -- to use those computers, because that's what it is today. And it's a safe place, to uh, to learn all that. So, I just stay supporting, and we are a little radical. I mean, 01:02:00you know, I bring in politics to it.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: But pretty much everybody's, you know -- I live in a very, very Democratic, um, district. Our -- our Congressperson won by 80% of the vote.

DRUMMOND: Oh wow, OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Excellent. Um, but you're also, since 2008, on the advisory board, uh, of the Los Angeles Department of Aging.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Aging, yeah.

DRUMMOND: And how -- is that -- is that a, um, like a committee that's been --

BROOKS-FLOYD: We meet once a month.

DRUMMOND: But have they been in place for a long time, or?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. It's a -- it's -- they try, it's an appointed position, and it's tried to be represented -- it's 25 members, it's a pretty good appointment. Um, it -- they try to um, get representatives from each of the uh, council districts, the council districts are fairly powerful in Los 01:03:00Angeles. Um, and we advise the Department of Aging on what we think the issues are, and um, there's a county commission, that does the same thing. So, they work together. But what we -- what we as a group have decided is that we feel hunger in America, you know, in LA, is a big problem. And it is. Um, the um -- so we've taken that on as a particular, um, issue in and we are working on that, and trying to address those issues, and promote those issues where we can.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And learn about -- and I'm learning a lot about how you have to piece together stuff for grants, and -- because that's how the -- the department gets most of their stuff, and the government, and the um, aging, um, the uh, reupping the aging bill, you know, what's in it, and everything like 01:04:00that. And of course, that's under attack too, so um, older Americans, I shouldn't say aging. So, you know, I'm learning that. It's -- it's really a learning process, because, you know, you're sort of in on -- and Laura Trejo, who is our, um, the director, and she's very good, she briefs us, and um, she um, and we have senior centers and, you know, what's going on. So, you know, and it's part-- and it's also partnering with -- learning how to partner with businesses and stuff like that. So, it's just -- it's just really learning kind of situation. Yeah.

DRUMMOND: You seem to enjoy it.

BROOKS-FLOYD: I do.

DRUMMOND: Um, so I think I know the answer to this, but I'll ask you anyway. Would you consider yourself an activist?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yes.

DRUMMOND: Very much so, it seems. Um, so can I talk to you a little bit about 01:05:00maybe how that activism might have, um, entered your personal life? Because clearly, your -- your professional life, you know, working to get the union, and then the way you choose to spend your free time, the council on aging --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Mm-hmm.

DRUMMOND: -- um, the ACLU, um, oh, committee -- the workers' rights committee. So certainly, um, those were things you did outside of work. But your personal life, you mentioned, um, that your second husband was African American.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Mm-hmm.

DRUMMOND: And did you meet him on the job, or did you meet him --

BROOKS-FLOYD: I met him, he was um, actually, his daughter worked for the airline, and his wife, well his ex-wife worked for the airline. So I met him basically through, you know, social events that --

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK. And what -- was that -- because even as liberal as LA probably was 01:06:00at that time compared to other parts of the United States, was -- was that difficult for you?

BROOKS-FLOYD: No.

DRUMMOND: No?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Because, I mean --

DRUMMOND: Not for you personally, but the way people might have viewed it from the outside?

BROOKS-FLOYD: No.

DRUMMOND: OK. OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, when -- when we met, I mean it was like love at first sight.

DRUMMOND: Really?

BROOKS-FLOYD: That was it. It -- it was, it was just one of those things.

DRUMMOND: Uh-huh.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And um, we both were in kind of bad marriages. And um, we -- we didn't really get together for a long time, but we knew -- somehow, we just knew, and we knew that this is the one. So, when we got um, when we did get together, in all -- we were together, he passed away a few years ago, when um, we together, we had one incident in all the years --

DRUMMOND: Really?

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- that we were together. And that was when we were driving in a 01:07:00car, and it was the sheriff's department, which is notoriously -- it was up in Hollywood, and they said that we looked like somebody they were looking for, so would we get out of the car. We got out of the car, and they started searching, you know, OK, search the car. And my husband had some um, apple juice, and he had it in a paper bag. And it was a cup -- it's a, you know, he -- he worked for a bank, and this company -- he'd done a lot of different jobs, but anyway, he uh, he was a machinist once actually. Um, so this cop goes in there, and he -- he picks up the -- the bag with the bottle, you know, it's illegal to have an open bottle -- you know, I don't know about the South, but in --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: In Ohio, they had these drive through liquor stores, I -- I couldn't believe it. Anyway, uh, he picks up the bottle, and he -- he's like, oh wow, he's justified. And he um, takes it out of the thing, and goes 01:08:00apple juice? Like you could just see his whole face. (laughter)

BROOKS-FLOYD: So, you know, even that was -- we sort of got our reward out of that.

DRUMMOND: Right, immediately.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Immediately, exactly. But my husband had had incidences.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, previous to me meeting him. Um, where he was --

DRUMMOND: And was his first wife African American also?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yes.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yes. Um, and then he had three kids.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And um, the -- we were never a Brady Bunch, but they've all lived with us, and we're all very good -- they -- they have bonded as -- you know, they came as teenagers basically, and they've all bonded, they consider themselves brothers and sisters. And there's just one that lives in Washington that has kind of been estranged from everybody. You know, um --

DRUMMOND: And because you had two from your first marriage.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yes, and he had three.

DRUMMOND: Michael and Tisha.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: And three.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: And um, did -- did the kids ever encounter anything because of --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Only, we went to um, the Olympics in Montreal, and we -- we -- in Montreal, they just -- you know, Vermont, my sister lives in Vermont, they just don't see blacks.

DRUMMOND: Right.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So that -- you know, they got stared at a lot, and they had never had that experience, even though they hang out in LA together. So, it was not --

DRUMMOND: OK. Well that sounds very lucky then, that y'all didn't encounter --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Oh yeah, yeah.

DRUMMOND: -- too many issues. Um, and did -- did your children end up being activists? Did you sort of instill some of your activist spirit into them?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well I don't know, my -- my kids are um, I will tell you a story about what happened to my kids. Because they -- it was interesting to them. At the time that my husband and I got married, well we were living together before we got married. And we uh, the kids were going to this -- at the time, they had bus vouchers for everybody to go to different schools, OK. So, we -- they were 01:10:00going to Culver City School, because I had lived in Culver City. And then, we -- we moved into this house, and it's in Mid-City, and -- and LA High School is the school. Well, the kids got kicked out of -- of Culver -- the Culver City School because somebody mentioned that -- where they lived. And so, they had to go to their local school, which was LA High School. Well, LA High School had literally, my kids first day, got the question, like "why are you here?" Because they're -- all the whites had all these transfers to, you know, my black kids went to Uni High, and all the white schools, and now my kids are going to, right? So, my son, he's very quiet, he just took shop classes and basically got out of school, you know? And he actually ended up marrying a black 01:11:00woman. But it -- it didn't last. Now he's married to a half-Japanese, half-German woman. And um, so then, my daughter, who was a swimmer, she was really very good, she was a diver, and she dove -- she went to that school, and she was diving, they said well, you can dive with the men's team, because they didn't have a women's team. And she didn't want to do that. So she joined the swim team, and the coach was really happy to have her, because, you know, like there weren't a lot of good swimmers. And so my daughter, she -- well, from the fourth grade, she's always been -- she's very, very bright, and she's always been, um, an organizer. So she -- I would get calls when she was in the fourth grade from the school clerk, "Well is Tisha there, because I need to know where this file is," or whatnot. They always kept her busy. So, she got to -- to swim with the swim team, but when they'd go on a meet, they 01:12:00would cornrow her hair, and she would pass. So she -- and never, the issue never came up that she was, you know. So diversity in my family, when I go visit my daughter, she brings -- even though she lives in Massachusetts where there aren't as many, you know, diverse people, you know, Barbie is black, their dolls, you know, they just -- you know, it's just um --

DRUMMOND: So it's been important for your -- for your kids to sort of give their kids that experience?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: And -- and that sort of level playing field.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Right, right. And the same, the grandkids, I'm very close to my grandkids, all, with the white and black.

DRUMMOND: How many grandkids do you have?

BROOKS-FLOYD: I have 11.

DRUMMOND: Wow, that's great. Yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, it's easy. (laughter) So yeah, they -- I don't know that they're -- I think my daughter's becoming a little -- she works for the government now, she-- she's becoming a little more activist. Um, and she does --

DRUMMOND: Is she in a union? Is she organized with the government?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Uh, she's not --

DRUMMOND: Is she organized with the government? Like, is she a member of --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Uh, she (inaudible). She doesn't have a union.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, but she um, you know, the garden thing, somebody else was going to do it, and then, you know, they sort of fell down on it. So the last two -- two years, she organizes that. You know, the garden, the victory garden that they have for the government, they suggest that government workers do that. You know, she manages to get everybody to build a -- the things, and -- you know, she's just organ-- you know, she's very uh, you know, neither of my kids, um, actually have a college education, I don't have a college education. But they have -- they're self learners, like myself. And so, they -- they do OK. Yeah, so.

DRUMMOND: It sounds like you're very proud of them.

BROOKS-FLOYD: I am.

DRUMMOND: As you should be.

BROOKS-FLOYD: I am.

DRUMMOND: All of them, as you should be.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: And so, that leads me to one of the most important things we've talked about at the conference this week, which is the trip to Ohio.

BROOKS-FLOYD: OK.

DRUMMOND: You were in Ohio.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yes.

DRUMMOND: Um, can you explain a little bit for people reading this that might not understand the importance of you guys going in, why it was important to -- to send people in to work for the, um, Obama campaign?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well, it was important because we made a difference. It's as simple as that. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to do it. It's like they say, it's a ground game. You just get out there, people are friendly, if you're friendly, if you know, you know, not to argue with people, listen to them. Um, they begin to think about who you are, and why you -- why you took the time to come talk to them personally. And why you're 01:15:00willing to come back, um, to drop a leaflet if they aren't home, why do you -- why do you keep doing that? And um, it -- it shows that even though we have a lot of new technology, it doesn't do the job, you need to combine it with the basics. You can't get away from the basic interaction of people to people.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm. The human touch.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Human -- exactly. And -- and it was a very good experience.

DRUMMOND: And how long were you there?

BROOKS-FLOYD: I was there about three weeks.

DRUMMOND: About three weeks?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: And it just involved you guys working with other local, um, union organizations to -- to know --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: -- like who to reach out to?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, we um, we went -- well I -- some of them were there a month, but I -- I uh, and I had something that I couldn't -- couldn't get there 01:16:00earlier. Um, we did work with the other organizations, but um, that -- it's hard to describe the dynamic, I mean one of the things that really, really interests me is group dynamics. And when we would go to a union -- we got split up, so each -- people had different um, cont-- different people that they were working with. Well we -- we -- we work with one -- Andrew will probably tell you, but we work with one -- this happened before I got there, but this guy was just not good. But it helped us bond --

DRUMMOND: Was he trying to be good, or was he just --

BROOKS-FLOYD: No, he was just -- he --

DRUMMOND: -- he wasn't engaged?

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- he, why are you here, basically? Um, he came around at the end, 01:17:00because we showed some -- but we sort of bonded ourselves, and we just decided, I think, whether we decided as an unconscious group, that we were just going to do our job, just -- and again, it gets back to basics. When I first came on staff, there was um, somebody on my staff that said to me, you know, I'd get all, you know, dramatic about stuff, and they'd say, just do your job. There's a saying they have, just suit up and show up. That's -- you know, that -- it gets down to doing that. And if you do that, somehow, like my life has proven, that you just fall into good stuff. I don't know why, you know, I can't say, you know, it's up there, or a higher power, or whatever, but if you just suit up, show up, be who you are, and good things happen. And you don't have to get into a confrontation with a bully. And this guy was a bully.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Um, so we just showed up every day, we did what -- you know, he had -- we did so much that they didn't have enough sheets ready for us to do.

DRUMMOND: Really?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: They just were behind. And um, and I think he -- he -- his people weren't showing up, and we were showing up. And that got -- you know, I think that bothered him too.

DRUMMOND: Yeah. Well also, with that kind of leadership, it might not encourage you to show up. If, you know, his people --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, his people -- yeah, yeah. But, you know, he wasn't going to connect the dots. And there's no way you could, you know, point -- point that out to him.

DRUMMOND: Yeah, yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So um, it was -- it was good, because what happened is, we -- we set an example of hard work --

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- and people kind of helped get into that. So when they went slowly, um, we did -- we finished this one place, so we then, we moved to 01:19:00another, and then we did come back to that area, um, when they called to go -- go TV. But um, it -- it was um, it was really an excellent experience, and it did show how machinists, the education that we get, and the ability to bond with one another, um, at Placid Harbor, because we had -- you know, we had already worked together, most of us have, I mean, but -- um, and we knew each other. I mean, you know, you -- you know Sam, you know? (laughter)

BROOKS-FLOYD: But that's OK, because you know who he is, and you --

DRUMMOND: Yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- you respect, and we do respect individuality. And I think for me, coming from LA, that's what makes LA so great, there are so many individuals, um, the freedom there is just amazing, because you -- you know, if --

DRUMMOND: OK, we were talking about LA.

BROOKS-FLOYD: All right. Yeah. And a freedom in LA which um, it -- an example I wanted to give was like, if you want to fly a kite at midnight in some city in the United States, the only place where you can do it and not be considered, you know, weird or anything would be LA.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And um, so that's what I like about it. I like the -- the uh, freedom to be who I am, and um, it's -- it's wonderful. It's a great place, yeah.

DRUMMOND: Yeah.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So.

DRUMMOND: Um, and let's -- let's get back to Ohio for just a minute. Um, I know that it was -- because it was a swing state --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: -- that um, there was worries that it would not -- and it's an important state in order to win the election.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Right.

DRUMMOND: Um, and -- and that's why y'all were sent -- how big was the group of people that went in? How big was your team?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well we were split up.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So my team I guess was about eight, nine people.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm. Total?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. Yeah.

DRUMMOND: OK. And it was just going out door to door, making -- connecting --

BROOKS-FLOYD: We worked with the International, yeah, younger, (inaudible).

DRUMMOND: And with the AFL-CIO too, right?

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. Well that's -- that's where we had our issues. Some of them, yeah.

DRUMMOND: Oh, OK. Interesting.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. So um, yeah, it was um, I -- I think what -- what we did was apparently, it turned out to be pretty unique in that um, working -- we -- we were a solid group that would come in every day, every night we'd do the phone banking, um, I had a good experience uh, um, towards the end, we -- Gwen and I, she was from the International, we were uh, leafleting, and um, and -- and some 01:22:00other -- one other person. And so we -- we saw these women going to the same houses, because you narrow down the houses, right? So were going to the same houses, so we stopped them on the street and said, you know, "Who are you working for?" And they said, Obama. Well we can't -- couldn't combine our efforts, because well, we were going to the exact same houses. So -- but the losses, you can't combine your campaign, because we're going to union, um, we were only allowed to work for union.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: OK. So, we did agree to -- to uh, meet for drinks after work. So we did, and we started talking, and one was the lib-- uh, the librarian there of the Carnegie, uh, Library that they have there in Sandusky.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And the other one was a friend, and she was really good. And it -- 01:23:00it turned out that their husbands are real conservative. And the two of them --

DRUMMOND: Interesting.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah. And they had worked for Obama the first time. So this time, they had managed, you know, it was great, to keep their husbands, and to promise that they wouldn't vote. They couldn't get them to change the vote, but they were able to get them not to vote. And it was really -- you know, you meet people that you -- you do what you can. And um, they -- they would tell us that their husbands, when they told them they went out for drinks with us, you know, they said, "Well, you and your communist friends." (laughter)

DRUMMOND: That word gets thrown around a lot.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, a lot, yeah. So, it was -- it was kind of interesting to -- to uh, especially the women, because women sometimes are in that position where 01:24:00um, the man thinks he can, you know, rule the roost with the vote even. And uh, so that -- I think that was significant that there were women working, um, door to door. Um, probably it wouldn't have been effective if it was just men.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm.

BROOKS-FLOYD: And um, also, one other thing I'd like to say about women is that I think they're better organizers, because they're willing to talk about work in the workplace. And I think men are less willing. Um, so I think they're really good in plant type people, and I think they should have more women as organizers, because I think they would -- and they're more organized in many ways. Um.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm. Just the skills that we are taught.

BROOKS-FLOYD: The type of skills that we are, um, so -- you know, it's kind of like a multitasking, but it isn't, it's just kind of bred in us almost that we -- you know, we have to cook dinner, or we are cooking dinner at the same time we're trying to, you know, reschedule something so that we can do 01:25:00something else. And we figured out ways to do that, and get it done.

DRUMMOND: Mm-hmm. I always know, in the archives, when we get a collection, or -- or if there's a collection we've had for a while, we're just getting around to processing it, I can open a box, and I'll always know if a woman ran that office or if a man ran that office. And I know that's sexist, but I know what you mean. Women are more organized, folders have better descriptive labels on them. Um, all the minutes are together, and all the contracts are -- you know, it's just, it's more organized.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Right.

DRUMMOND: Typically. Not all the time, but typically.

BROOKS-FLOYD: OK.

DRUMMOND: So. Well um, do you want to -- is there anything we haven't discussed in the interview today that you want to discuss? Maybe talk about mentors or the importance of, because you're active now with the young machinists as well --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Mm-hmm.

DRUMMOND: -- sort of guiding them, um, would you mind saying a few words about that? Because I think that's a really important program, and that's a -- a 01:26:00new program.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, I think -- I think it's a good program. Uh, last year Charlie put me with somebody at another conference, and I -- in my town, and uh, we worked together for a while. And he kind of -- uh, left or whatever, I don't know. Um, but I think it is a good program. Um, I think that it would be good to have a training program for people to mentor, how to mentor.

DRUMMOND: Mentoring is essential.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Uh, because it is a learning process for -- for me. Um, and you just don't want to overload the person. Um, and you want to just see -- see what they're -- how -- people learn in different ways, and -- and uh, it would be good if they had a class in mentoring. I mean, it wouldn't even have to -- 01:27:00it could be like a day. But it would be, I think we should have something like that. That would be my suggestion.

DRUMMOND: OK, OK. Um, well if you don't have anything else to add, I would like to thank you so much --

BROOKS-FLOYD: You're welcome.

DRUMMOND: -- for participating in this interview. And um, for everything you've done for the machinists.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, great.

DRUMMOND: Yeah. I'm not officially a machinist, but I think that --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Oh, great.

DRUMMOND: -- I know you've done --

BROOKS-FLOYD: Well I have a friend who's um, it -- and I sort of mentor her, yeah. She -- and she's in uh, Atlanta. So she keeps asking me to come and visit, so I hope --

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- I will get there, and I would love to be -- she works for CNN, so --

DRUMMOND: OK. That's just down the street from me.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Is it?

DRUMMOND: I can see the -- from where I park every day, I can see the CNN logo on the building.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, yeah. So I'm -- you know, I'm thinking this year, or you know, next year, (inaudible) to try and get to --

DRUMMOND: I would love to --

BROOKS-FLOYD: -- Atlanta and -- and actually, because I've never been, it's one of the cities I've never been to.

DRUMMOND: OK.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Awesome.

BROOKS-FLOYD: So I would hope to meet you there, and see your archives.

DRUMMOND: Absolutely. I'll show you around.

BROOKS-FLOYD: Yeah, all right, that would be great.

DRUMMOND: OK. Thank you so much.