by Cesar Aguirre & Brian Flagg
On Thursday Dec. 5, Tucsonans joined with approximately 200 other cities to stand in solidarity with fast food workers (McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King). The majority support families and find it impossible to make ends meet at minimum wage.
This action was at noon at the McDonald’s at Speedway and Alvernon, and was organized by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), with a little help from us here at Casa Maria.
It was a cold and wet day, but the energy level was high. We brought hot coffee, sandwiches and donuts.
There were lots of uptight cops being ordered around by the manager of the McDonald’s. Pissed off Tea Party members were present, along with local hate radio personalities.
The action was really exciting, important and even fun.
Our problem was with the reporting. The TV news was actually pretty good. They interviewed Cesar Aguirre and Rosamaria Solarez from Casa Maria as well as County Supervisor Richard Elias and TUSD School Board member Camiliano Juarez.
The Arizona Daily Star ran a story on page 2 with a little picture that said that two dozen people participated. The truth is there were 80 to 100 people.
The Star ran a big, week-long series on poverty in Tucson recently, but when people in the community actually try to speak to economic injustice at specific locations in Tucson, their efforts are diminished by The Star.
What’s up with that?
