A national coalition of labor unions, along with racial and social justice organizations, will stage a mass walkout from work this month, as part of an ongoing reckoning on systemic racism and police brutality in the US.
“They claim to support Black lives, but their business model functions by exploiting Black labor — passing off pennies as ‘living wages’ and pretending to be shocked when COVID-19 sickens those Black people who make up their essential workers,” said Henderson, co-executive director of Tennessee-based Highlander Research and Education Center.
“We’ve got the coronavirus going on, plus we’ve got this thing with racism going on,” Andrews said. “They’re tied together, like some type of segregation, like we didn’t have our ancestors and Martin Luther King fighting against these types of things. It’s still alive out here, and it’s time for somebody to be held accountable. It’s time to take action.”
Systemic poverty affects 140 million people in the U.S, with 62 million people working for less than a living wage, according to the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, a strike partnering organization. An estimated 54 percent of Black workers and 63 percent of Hispanic workers fall into that category, compared to 37 percent of white workers and 40 percent of Asian American workers, the group said.
Organizers said some striking workers will do more than walk off the job on July 20. In Missouri, participants will rally at a McDonald’s in Ferguson, a key landmark in the protest movement sparked by the death of Michael Brown, a Black teenager who was killed by police in 2014. The strikers will then march to a memorial site located on the spot where Brown was shot and killed.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Sydney Colson: ‘Black Lives Matter is a human rights statement’Chicago Sky guard Sydney Colson responds to Atlanta Dream co-owner Sen. Loeffler, who voiced objections to the WNBA's plans to honor the Black Lives Matter movement. 'It's just a statement of fact that black lives matter.'
Read more »
Atlanta's WNBA team supports Black Lives Matter after pushback from co-owner, a US senatorThe players of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream jointly signed a statement supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, which they assert is a 'statement of humanity.' Team co-owner Sen. Kelly Loeffler objected to the WNBA's plans to honor the movement
Read more »
Atlanta Dream Players Defy Co-Owner Sen. Kelly Loeffler, Post Support For Black Lives MatterLoeffler told the WNBA last week she didn’t want players wearing warm-up jerseys saying “Black Lives Matter” and “Say Her Name.”
Read more »
It's Just the Beginning: What the Black Lives Matter Protests Have Already ChangedIt's Just the Beginning: What the Current Black Lives Matter Protests Have Changed
Read more »
Workers speak out against Black Lives Matter face mask bans - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »