Labor and Neighborhood Activists Rally Against Wal-Mart’s Blackmail

By Guest Contributor, on July 10th, 2013

Cross-Posted From DC Independent Media Center By Luke

The Large Retailer Accountability Act Clearly Supported By DC’s Progressive Community

On the 10th of July labor and neighborhood activists held a rally outside the Wilson Building to support passage of the Large Retailer Accountability Act. It would raise the minimum wage in certain big box stores to $12.50 an hour. Wal-Mart has vowed to abandon at least half their plans to open stores in DC if this passes. Rev Hagler told them not once but twice to “Go to Hell” during his speech!

I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard any pastor tell anyone to go to Hell, but if anyone deserves it, Wal-Mart does, especially in light of their resort to extortion when bribery failed.

Workers from several big box stores complained about being unable to afford to shop where they work due to law wages. One man who works at a Wal-Mart said he could not even afford to have his own place due to the wages Wal-Mart pays.

After the rally, activists went into the Wilson Building to confront several anti-LRAA councilmembers, then observe the vote. I could not go with them, as the Wilson Building is an ID and bag search building.

Wal-Mart has also crudely threatened the DC Council. On the 9th of July, less than 24 hours before the final vote on the LRAA, Wal-Mart lobbyists bluntly said they could cancel their Skyland and two other unbuilt stores if the bill is signed into law. They also said they might abandon (“reconsider”) the three stores under construction. Well, this extortion won’t exactly break DC”s legs, as a lot of people would rather have an abandoned Wal-Mart than an open one in their neighborhood!

 

This Just In! from Grassroots DC’s Coordinator

DC’s City Council voted for the Large Retail Accountability Act. The vote was not unanimous. Councilmembers Yvette Alexander (Ward 7), Muriel Bowser (Ward 4), David Catania (At-Large), Mary Cheh (Ward 3) and Tommy Wells (Ward 6) all voted against the bill. We must still wait to see if Mayor Gray signs on or vetoes the bill, but it looks like years of pressure from community groups, labor and individual activists is turning the tide against a Walmart invasion of the District of Columbia. Is this what democracy looks like? I think maybe so.

 

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Stand Up for DC’s Neighborhood Schools

By Liane Scott, on February 18th, 2012

Students and Parents Protest the Demolition of Bruce Monroe Elementary

School officials certainly make a show of being willing to ask; they even appear to listen. At a public hearing about the proposed closing of River Terrace back in November, DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said, “if every community had this level of engagement, DCPS would be the best school district in the country.” So why should Kaya Henderson, who clearly knows how important parental and community involvement is in the success of a school, be perfectly willing to close down schools with very active school communities such as Bruce Monroe and River Terrace? How is it possible, that these communities are simply ignored by the government that’s supposed to represent them? Answering the why would force me into speculations about racism and classism among DC elected and appointed officials, but Empower DC education organizer Daniel del Pielago has some clear ideas about how communities get left out of the decision making process. According to del Pielago:

Key decision makers do not engage in meaningful dialog with their constituency, do not return emails, calls and requests to meet. Elected officials cancel meetings and do not deliver on commitments they make when you are finally able to meet with them. Government officials (and the developers who support them) “wait out” parents and other community members as community interest and action wanes. Ultimately, decisions are made and presented with no input from the community that will be affected.

Clear examples of this are demonstrated in a brochure that he and a number of River Terrace Elementary school families have been sharing with the rest of the community, which I’ve posted below for your consideration.

 

River Terrace: This Is Our Moment of Truth Save River Terrace Elementary School

Closing our school harms our students, disrespects our parents and assaults our community. If we truly love our school and our neighborhood, now is the time to show it. Know the facts and let’s stand up for ourselves.

Throughout the year, we’ve been reaching out to keep everyone informed of this attack on our community. We’ve contacted our elected officials and decision makers through calls and emails, clearly demonstrating our support for River Terrace Elementary and for keeping it open. We’ve asked for meetings with the Chancellor and other public officials. with only two exceptions, we were ignored.

River Terrace Elementary Timeline of Events

December 2010

DCPS issues a letter stating their intention to close River Terrace Elementary School at the end of the 2010-2011 school year. River Terrace parents meet with Special Assistant to the Chancellor of DC Public Schools Margery Anne Yeager.

January 2011

Over 100 River Terrace community members meet with Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander and Chancellor Kaya Henderson at a public hearing to voice their unanimous support for keeping the school open. The River Terrace Elementary Support Committee visits council members and the community writes letters in supprt of the school. River Terrace community members and allies give testimony at the Ward 7 State of the Schools Public Hearing.

February 2011

DCPS issues a letter stating that River Terrace Elementary has been given a year’s reprieve to build enrollment.

March 2011

River Terrace Elementary Support Committee meets with the Cluster 1 Educational Superintendent Barbara Adderly. River Terrace Elementary Support Committee gives testimony at Mayor Vincent Gray’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Hearing for DCPS. River Terrace Elementary Support Committee holds an enrollment fair. River Terrace Elementary Support Committee reaches out to council members for support to keep the school open.

June 2011

Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander cancels a meeting with the River Terrace Elementary Support Committee. At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelsohn offers support to the school community. River Terrace Elementary Support Committee meets with Varick AME Church and the River Terrace Alumni Committee.

September 2011

River Terrace Elementary Support Committee collects signature of support at the River Terrace Reunion Picnic. River Terrace Elementary Support Committee meets with Councilmember Alexander who commits to arranging a meeting between them and Chancellor Kaya Henderson.

October 2011

River Terrace Elementary Support Committee continues to follow up with Councilmember Alexander about her committment to set up a meeting with Chancellor Kaya Henderson. River Terrace Elementary Support Committee meets with Councilmember Alexander and Chancellor Kaya Henderson. Henderson announces that River Terrace Elementary will close in June 2012 and the decision is final.

We can still save our school but we need to take ACTION NOW! We have tried to call on the . . . → Read More: Stand Up for DC’s Neighborhood Schools

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Who’s In The Frame? A Closer Look at School Closings and the Mainstream Media

By Liane Scott, on January 18th, 2012

Imagine every news story that you read, hear or watch is a painting hanging on an art gallery wall. Just as the artist determines not only the main subject matter of the painting but everything else that gets included on the canvas, it is the producer of the news story who decides what issue to cover, what “facts” should be included, whose opinion will be voiced and whose opinion will be ignored. In other words, it is the reporter or journalist who decides what’s inside the frame and what gets left out. Deciding what issues to cover and what angle or perspective to use is called framing. How a reporter frames a story is guided by many factors including, but not limited to, the reporter’s experience of the world and the assumptions they’ve made about the issue in question.

Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander & DCPS School’s Chancellor Kaya Henderson listening intently (or not) to the River Terrace Community as they plead for their school.

Let’s take a specific example, local mainstream news reporting on proposed school closings in DCPS. In this article by Washington Post education reporter Bill Turque School Closings Unlikely to be Widespread, the assumption that school closings will have a positive impact on DCPS is not obvious, but it’s there. Turque trusts just two sources–School’s Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright. As city officials who have a budget to balance, they may prioritize the alleged cost-effectiveness of closing schools over providing a world-class education to the city’s children but that possibility is never explored. The parents who may be forced to uproot their children from one school and bus them to a location outside of their neighborhoods are not included. And why should they be? After all, closings are unlikely to be widespread. The title of the article itself suggests that only a relatively few families will be inconvenienced and that their loss is acceptable in the face of the positive gains that may or may not be achieved throughout the system as a whole. Also left out of the frame are the teachers and the students themselves, who may not agree with Kaya Henderson’s definition of an under-enrolled school, especially if that definition means an increase in the size of their classes. Members of the community at large aren’t likely to be considered at all by mainstream news sources covering education issues but that doesn’t meant they are not impacted when a community’s school is torn down in lieu of luxury condos. To his credit, Turque does mention one school community–River Terrace, whose elementary school is scheduled for closure next year, but he says nothing about how the school’s closing might impact the River Terrace community. Of course, including all of those voices might take too much time. No doubt he has a deadline to adhere to. He may also have constraints on the number of words he’s allowed in his column. On the other hand, if he really wanted to include the voices of the River Terrace school community in his article, he could have simply provided a link to his previous article River Terrace Pleads for its School. In this article, River Terrace parents, students and community members are quoted but not until the end of the article. Also, Turque points out the official estimate of $800,000 in savings should the school be closed, adding in his own words, “no small matter given the city’s fiscal straits.” If Turque were committed to giving equal weight to both sides of this issue, he might have countered with Kaya Henderson’s statement “If every community had this level of engagement, DCPS would be the best school district in the country,” which surely suggests that $800,000 is no savings at all if the result is a lower level of community engagement. So, let’s review. Turque’s trusted sources are known to believe in the efficacy of school closings, otherwise they wouldn’t have closed schools in the past and they wouldn’t be advocating for more closings now. Any sources that just might believe that closing schools will not improve DCPS are not in the frame. Fortunately, we have a frame of our own to fill. On January 12, 2011, over 200 members of the River Terrace Community attended a public hearing regarding the proposed closing of their elementary school. Over 40 parents, teachers, students and members of the community testified. The video below is just a small portion of that hearing in which . . . → Read More: Who’s In The Frame? A Closer Look at School Closings and the Mainstream Media

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