Activist/Protest Response Paper #1 - Essay Example

scourse is to present personal experiences after participating in this particular protest; as well as framing concepts such as rhetoric of control, rhetoric of agitation, and the use of movement artifacts in the process. The general public could have heard in the news that disgruntled workers at Walmart stores have staged a strike in almost 100 cities were Walmart stores are strategically situated (Hines and Miles). This was most moving since it was staged on Black Friday, a time known to generate vast numbers of shoppers intending to purchase items that were marked down significantly in prices.

Since Black Friday was indeed an event to behold, as a student who is deeply concerned about the plight of Walmart workers, one decided to join their strike and be part of the protest movement. At Walmart in Paramount, California, at exactly 10:00 a.m., I decided to join a considerable number of people: protesters, workers at Walmart, relatives of workers, students, members of the media, and even members of the clergy. The organizers could be singled out for wearing a prescribed light green colored T-shirt and bringing with them placards, posters with protest slogans: On Strike for the Freedom to Speak Out, For Respect, and for supporters who indicated that We Stand with Walmart Strikers.

Upon interviewing Walmart workers who joined the strike, it was revealed that they were asking to increase their wages and to provide them with appropriate benefits commensurate to their lengths of service with the organization. I sat down with a young mother who said she was assigned as a checkout clerk and was apparently given very low wages. In addition, she recounted that at times, Walmart cuts their work hours and their net take home pay is not enough to support their daily expenses. A young father was also interviewed just to validate if there were indeed commonalities in complaints and he averred the same low wages, the need to improve working conditions, and the be fair in