Sammie Sims
In this interview, Sammie Sims shares a lot about her background and her drive to speak up for justice and equity. She is 77 years old. She was raised in Mississippi where she lived until her early 20s. Her father died before her birth, and her mother died when she was 13. She was raised by her older sisters who “married her off,” when she was 16. She managed to get as much education as possible, but had to pick cotton to help her family get by. She was paid $1.00 a day and picked as much as 300 pounds per day. She is proud of being a hard worker. With the help of the union, she got her GED in her early 50’s. ACORN helped her to move into her first home. She marvels at ACORN’s work buying and rehabbing abandoned homes from the city and turning them into low-income housing for people or helping black people get home loans. She’s a fighter, period. She worked with both ACORN and the Service Employers International Union, and she went all over the country to fight for equity in pay, to protect people of color from predatory loans and redlining – Los Angeles, Minnesota, Springfield, D.C. Often times to pay her travel expenses, she’d sell soul food at the Union hall. She loved her work as a home healthcare worker, she gained a love of it taking care of her mother when she was sick. She worked hard, and went to places others didn’t want to — she would go far north even if it meant long trips on public transportation. She told of cleaning out the home of two elderly sisters who were living on top of trash, despite the fact that their own family wouldn’t help. As I said, Sammie is a fighter, unafraid to speak up when she sees injustic. She may worry about not having the right words, but she’s going to be heard. In the late 90’s, her doctors told her she had to slow down because she had diabetes and a heart problem. In her mid-60s, after a stroke, she had to retire. She worries about her memory, but has very good recall. She is proud of her work with the union and ACORN, and loves ACORN the best. She shares that ACORN did so much for black people, helped them to get fair pay (when she started as a home healthcare worker she was only making $3.25), helped them secure loans, found them housing, making sure their neighborhoods were clean and safe. She still speaks to the residents of her assisted living home about the union. More importantly, she encourages all of the home healthcare workers who care for her fellow residents to get involved in the union, and to stay active. In fact, the woman caring for her, who we hear in the interview, was headed to Washington DC later in the day to protest unfair wages. She says, if you help and care for others, God will bestow blessings on you. She wants to be remembered for having fought and won, and she believes ACORN will be remembered for winning so many important battles for equity. She wants young activists to get involved in the fight, and most importantly to teach their children not to be afraid to speak up an be heard, to be leaders. She says, she will keep fighting, working and speaking up, until the lord tells her she’s done.