By now we’ve told you how the bill made its way through Council, the heavy-duty organizing and coalition-building that’s taken place over the summer, and even how you can get involved — no matter how you feel about the bill.
We’ve heard strong opinions for and against the bill in Council, hints from the Mayor on how he’ll vote, and continued threats from Walmart to leave DC and drop development if the Large Retailer Accountability Act (i.e. the LRAA or “Living Wage” bill) were signed into law. In other words, we know pretty well how the politicians and corporate executives feel. But what about those most impacted by the bill, like DC residents and retail employees themselves?
GrassrootsDC brings you this mixtape of voices collected from actions in support of the Living Wage bill across the District. We hope you enjoy!
Reverend Virginia Williams (native Washingtonian, Ward 7 resident),
Kimberly Mitchell (Macy’s employee, UFCW Local400 member, lifelong Ward 7 resident,),
Tonya C. (former Walmart employee, fired from a Laural, MD location),
Cindy Murray (13 year Walmart associate at Hyattsville, MD store, member of OUR Walmart),
Mike Wilson (organizer with RespectDC), and
Inocencio Quinones (Ward 7 resident and organizer with OurDC)
We thank everyone who contributed to this mixtape, including all the speakers listed above, Head Roc for the musical element, and the folks that live-streamed a protest from a Hyattsville, MD location on September 5th, 2013.
Friday afternoon the DC Council transmitted the Large Retailer Accountability Act to Mayor Gray for him to sign or veto. The people of DC have told him loudly and clearly that we want him to sign the LRAA! Tuesday, hundreds turned out at Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church and heard speaker after speaker give powerful and inspirational testimony about why DC needs a retail living wage.
In addition, we are going to continue our canvassing efforts. We have collected thousands of petition signatures and personal stories from Ward 7
residents in support of the LRAA. You can read some here<http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qJnETRztAhsZ3KIBNyLKWixTt6VOc8jN>. More than 9 out of 10 of the people we talked to have signed our petition in support of the bill. People in Ward 7 and across the city are calling on Mayor Gray to stand up to the large, out of town corporations trying to bully our city into accepting poverty wage jobs. Sign up here to join us for canvassing.<http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ribyX%2BmiD%2F5QoxmLBbIJryxTt6VOc8jN>
The time for action is now. Mayor Gray has the chance to follow in the footsteps of the leaders of the original March on Washington, just after celebrating its 50th anniversary, by taking a big step toward a living wage for all. Contact Mayor Gray today, and tell him to sign the LRAA!<http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Ccs7CynzSJwutr0WKW4%2BcCxTt6VOc8jN>
Petitions for LRAA (living wage) act delivered to Mayor after press conference
On the 3rd of September, DC Councilmember Vincent Orange held a press conference in front of the Wilson Building along with supporters of the Large Retailer Accountability Act (LRAA).
They were demanding that Mayor Gray sign the LRAA instead of bowing to Wal-Mart’s brazen threats to leave the city if the bill is signed into law. Speakers pointed out that in 1963 during the Jobs and Freedom March, Dr Martin Luther King demanded a minimum wage of $2 an hour. In 2013 dollars, that is over $15 an hour, yet the LRAA only mandates $12.50 an hour inclusive of benefits.
Several speakers also pointed out that longtime District residents, who held out through the Crack Wars and the lean years to stay in the city, requires more than $8 and change an hour now that all those condos are going up.
At the conclusion of the press conference, a box containing 36,917 (according to speakers) signed petitions asking the Mayor to sign the LRAA were taken inside and delivered to his office.
Town Hall meeting in Anacostia demands that Mayor Gray sign Living Wage bill
On the evening of the 27th of August, community members and activists packed into the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church to demand that Mayor Gray sign the Large Retailer Accountability Act.
DC Councilmembers Phil Mendelson and Vincent Orange both spoke to support the LRAA. Both Mendelson and Reverend Curry (senior pastor at the Church) held up pens and demanded that the Mayor sign the bill.
Phil Mendelson bluntly condemned the Mayor’s hypocrisy in appearing at the Martin Luther King and Statehood events on Saturday, yet leaning towards vetoing the LRAA.
Other speakers debunked the lies Wal-Mart has been spreading with facts about how states and cities that raised their minimum wages over the past 20 years have not had higher unemployment than those that did not.
One of the speakers pointed out that the $2 minimum wage demanded by organizers of the original 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom would be worth $15 an hour today, and the LRAA is only asking for $12.50 an hour.
Near the end, Reverend Hagler condemned Mayor Gray for taking “30 pieces of silver” from Wal-Mart. Those 30 pieces of silver will drag Mr Gray out of office and right into the gutter, ending his career if he vetoes a living wage for workers at Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot!
On August 17, a coalition of organizations held a unity rally for immigrant rights in front of the White House, calling for Congress to act on immigration reform and put an end to deportations. Organizers of the rally included WORD (Women Organized to Resist and Defend), DMV LOLA (Latinas Organized for Leadership and Advocacy), and NAPAWF-DC (National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum), joined by the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). Speakers at the event discussed the misrepresentation of immigrant rights as an exclusively “Latino issue,” instead demonstrating that the movement for immigrant rights is part of the movements for women’s rights, workers’ rights, and human rights. A running theme of the rally was that whether we like it or not, the hijacking of immigration reform at the national level has devastating consequences for all our families, economies, and communities.
The mainstream media often falsely represents immigration as a Latino issue, leaving out large portions immigrant populations and not accurately reflecting migration patterns. A more complicated picture emerged at Saturday’s rally, which was led by a diverse coalition of immigrants and their allies.
Standing in front of the White House, Linda Khoy shared her sister Lundy’s story with the audience. Lundy was born in a refugee camp, and eventually, their parents were able to leave Cambodia because of the war. Linda, however, was born in the United States. They wouldn’t realize until many years later the effect that different sorts of papers would have on their lives. Lundy went to college and at the age of 19, found herself arrested for a misdemeanor level offense. In immigration terms, however, that meant deportation proceedings. Now they work with One Love Movement, organizing Southeast Asian refugees and others to put a stop to deportations. Listen to Linda tell Lundy’s story and her message for President Obama:
Diana, another speaker at the event, shared her experience of being undocumented in DC. “I was a career criminal before I could even talk, and since then, every breath I took was labelled an unlawful one.” A DREAM Activist member and UDC honor student, Diana was born in Lagos, Nigeria and arrived in Washington, DC when she was only 2 months old. She attended Bancroft Elementary, Shaw Junior High School, and Roosevelt High School.
“I was a career criminal before I could even talk, and since then, every breath I took was labelled an unlawful one.”
Diana said she felt like any other Washingtonian until her senior year, when she found out she was undocumented. Listen to Diana tell her story and come out as undocumented, joining 11 million others in the US:
Catalina Nieto with the Detention Watch Network, who is originally from Colombia, posed a provocative question to the crowd: “What does it really mean to be in unity, to be in solidarity, and have each others’ backs, for real?” — also bringing up the important point that “there is a group of people right now who are benefiting from having us divided.” If you want to listen to more of what she had to say about moving from slogans to meaningful change, listen below:
These stories illustrate the very real impacts of a broken immigration system upon families, and particularly women, facing the threat of deportation. Their call to action is clear: they want President Obama and Congress to stop deportations. Cases like Lundy’s show that judges need to use discretion in the sentencing process for undocumented people, rather than deporting immigrants for minor offenses. More broadly, the organizers demonstrated that they are part of much larger struggles, including the struggle to end mass incarceration of US citizens and to stop prison labor profits via the prison industrial complex. Nieto urged the crowd to consider what it means to be unified with people going through solitary confinement, trapped in an immigration system with no access to family and friends.
“At this point, seeing each other as humans and having each others’ backs is a revolutionary act,” said Nieto.
Visit the websites of the organizations linked in the post above to get involved in the unified struggle for immigrant rights. Join Women Organized to Resist and Defend (WORD) at the 50th Anniversary March on Washington Rally beginning @ 8 am at the Lincoln Memorial, then marching to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
On the 7th of August, Mayor Gray and city officials joined with the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington Commemorative Committee for a press conference to announce the upcoming events of August 24. The main event is at the Lincoln Memorial in the morning.
One of the organizers gave a speech condemning voter ID laws, other voter suppression and the Zimmerman verdict as examples that the problems King marched against 50 years ago are still alive and well in the US.
One of the organizers gave a speech condemning voter ID laws, other voter suppression, and the Zimmerman verdict as examples that the problems King marched against 50 years ago are still alive and well in the US.
Present in the audience were several members of groups opposing Wal-Mart, who hope that Mayor Gray will not buckle under to Wal-Mart and will sign the Large Retailer Accountability Act or LRAA. They were present so the Mayor could see them, but took no action due to the nature of the event.
The LRAA would force Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot,etc to pay $12.50 an hour in wages and benefits. Wal-Mart is demanding a veto, saying they will pull out of DC otherwise. Given that one of the demands of the original 1963 March on Washington was to raise the minimum wage, it would be highly inappropriate for the Mayor to veto the LRAA after his planned appearance in this 50th anniversary commemoration rally.
Hopefully the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, and the historical reality of his campaign for living wage jobs will be all the reminder the Mayor needs to sign the LRAA when the council sends it to his desk.
Major events planned for 50th anniversary of MLK March on Washington:
50th Anniversary March on Washington
Saturday August 24.
The rally will be held at the Lincoln Memorial from 8 am.-4 p.m. and the festival will be held on the National Mall from 2-6 p.m.
DC Statehood Rally
August 24, 2013
9 a.m. DC War Memorial, Independence Avenue, NW. Washington DC.
March for Jobs and Justice
August 28, 2013. The march will begin at 9:30 a.m. Participants will assemble at 600 New Jersey Avenue, Washington DC at 8 a.m. and proceed to the United States Department of Labor at 200 Constitution Avenue, then to the United States Department of Justice at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue and ending at a rally on the National Mall.
By now we’ve told you how the bill made its way through Council, the heavy-duty organizing and coalition-building that’s taken place over the summer, and even how you can get involved — no matter how you feel about the bill.
