Virus restrictions fuel anti-government ‘boogaloo’ movement

In this May 2, 2020, file photo, people, including those with the boogaloo movement, demonstrate against business closures due to concern about COVID-19, at the State House in Concord, N.H. It's a fringe movement with roots in a online meme culture steeped in irony and dark humor. But experts warn that the anti-government boogaloo movement has attracted a dangerous element of far-right extremists. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN MAY 13, 2020

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — They carry high-powered rifles and wear tactical gear, but their Hawaiian shirts and leis are what stand out in the crowds that have formed at state capital buildings to protest COVID-19 lockdown orders. The signature look for the “boogaloo” anti-government movement is designed to get attention.

The group, which uses an ’80s movie sequel as a code word for a second civil war, is among the extremists using the armed protests against state-at-home orders as a platform. Like other movements that once largely inhabited corners of the internet, it has seized on the social unrest and economic calamity caused by the pandemic to publicize its violent messages.

In April, armed demonstrators passed out “Liberty or Boogaloo” fliers at a statehouse protest in Concord, New Hampshire. A leader of the Three Percenters militia movement who organized a rally in Olympia, Washington, last month encouraged rally participants to wear Hawaiian shirts, according to the Anti-Defamation League. On Saturday, a demonstration in Raleigh, North Carolina, promoted by a Facebook group called “Blue Igloo” — a derivation of the term — led to a police investigation of a confrontation between an armed protester and a couple pushing a stroller.

Another anti-lockdown rally is planned for Thursday at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, site of an angry protest last month that included armed members of the Michigan Liberty Militia. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has been the target of violent threats on Facebook forums, including a private one called “The Rhett E. Boogie Group.”

One user said Whitmer should be “guillotined” after another suggested another governor should be hanged from a noose, according to a screenshot captured by the Tech Transparency Project research initiative.

The coronavirus pandemic has become a catalyst for the “boogaloo” movement because the stay-at-home orders have “put a stressor on a lot of very unhappy people,” said J.J. MacNab, a fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. MacNab said their rhetoric goes beyond discussions about fighting virus restrictions — which many protesters brand as “tyranny” — to talking about killing FBI agents or police officers “to get the war going.”


“They are far more graphic and far more specific in their threats than I’ve seen in a long time,” she said.

The violent rhetoric is dramatic escalation for a online phenomenon with its roots in meme culture and steeped in dark humor. Its name comes from the panned 1984 movie “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” which has become slang for any bad sequel. Another derivation of “boogaloo” is “big luau” — hence the Hawaiian garb.

Far-right gun activists and militia groups first embraced the term before white supremacist groups adopted it last year. And while some “boogaloo” followers maintain they aren’t genuinely advocating for violence, law-enforcement officials say they have foiled bombing and shooting plots by people who have connections to the movement or at least used its terminology.

A 36-year-old Arkansas man whose Facebook page included “boogaloo” references was arrested on April 11 by police in Texarkana, Texas, on a charge he threatened to ambush and kill a police officer on a Facebook Live video.

“I feel like hunting the hunters,” Aaron Swenson wrote on Facebook under an alias, police say.

An April 22 report by the Tech Transparency Project, which tracks technology companies, found 125 Facebook “boogaloo”-related groups that had attracted tens of thousands of members in the previous 30 days. The project pointed to coronavirus crisis as a driving factor.

“Some boogaloo supporters see the public health lockdowns and other directives by states and cities across the country as a violation of their rights, and they’re aiming to harness public frustration at such measures to rally and attract new followers to their cause,” the project’s report says.

Facebook has since updated its policies to prohibit use of “boogaloo” and related terms “when accompanied by statements and images depicting armed violence,” the company said in a statement.

In March, a Missouri man with ties to neo-Nazis was shot and killed when FBI agents tried to arrest him. Timothy Wilson, 36, was planning to bomb a hospital in the Kansas City area on the day that a COVID-19 stay-at-home order was scheduled to take effect, authorities said. Wilson told an undercover FBI agent that his goal was “to kick start a revolution” and referred to his plans as “operation boogaloo,” according to an agent’s affidavit.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an alert that said a white supremacist group was inciting followers to shoot through their doors at FBI agents and police officers, federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing. The warning related to “associates” of Bradley Bunn, a 53-year-old U.S. Army veteran who was arrested on May 1 after FBI agents allegedly found four pipe bombs at his house in Loveland, Colorado, the filing said.

Authorities haven’t publicly linked Bunn to any group or movement, but a federal prosecutor said agents intercepted Bunn on his way to an armed protest at the state Capitol against COVID-19 restrictions.

Bunn told investigators that he would be willing to “take out a few” officers to “wake everyone up,” the prosecutor said during a court hearing.

While the anti-lockdown protests have provided the spotlight on the “boogaloo” movement, a police shooting in Maryland has galvanized its supporters.

Duncan Lemp, 21, was shot and killed by police on March 12 as officers served a search warrant at his family’s home. An eyewitness said Lemp was asleep in his bedroom when police opened fire from outside his house, according to an attorney for his family. Police said he was armed with a rifle and ignored commands.

On his Instagram account, Lemp had posted a photograph that depicts two people holding up rifles and includes the term “boogaloo.” His death spawned a hashtag campaign within the movement.

“A lot of individuals are very upset at the way this country is being run and the laws that are getting passed that criminalize law-abiding citizens,” said Mike Harts, a U.S. Army infantry veteran who befriended Lemp through social media.

Harts, 27, says “boogaloo” started as a funny meme but has evolved into a deeper symbol for the “liberty movement.”

Lemp’s family appreciates the outpouring of support but doesn’t want “any violence or unlawful actions to be taken in his name,” family attorney Rene Sandler said in a statement.

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Follow Associated Press reporter Michael Kunzelman at http://twitter.com/Kunzelman75

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL GOT MY BOOGALOO

Trump ramps up expulsions of migrant youth, citing virus
FILE - In this May 4, 2020, file photo, Guatemalans deported from the U.S., wave from a bus after arriving at La Aurora airport in Guatemala City. U.S. border agencies quickly expelled about 600 child migrants in April after federal agencies began prohibiting asylum claims at the southern border, citing the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)

MAY 13, 2020

HOUSTON (AP) — The young migrants and asylum seekers swim across the Rio Grande and clamber into the dense brush of Texas. Many are teens who left Central America on their own; others were sent along by parents from refugee camps in Mexico. They are as young as 10.

Under U.S. law they would normally be allowed to live with relatives while their cases wind through immigration courts. Instead the Trump administration is quickly expelling them under an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus pandemic, with 600 minors expelled in April alone.

The expulsions are the latest administration measure aimed at preventing the entry of migrant children, following other programs such as the since-rescinded “zero tolerance” policy that resulted in thousands of family separations.

Border agencies say they have to restrict asylum claims and border crossings during the pandemic to prevent the virus’ spread. Migrants’ advocates call that a pretext to dispense with federal protections for children.

MORE STORIES:
– Origins of family separation issue stretch back many years

– Official: Strict US border policy may remain as virus eases

In interviews with The Associated Press, two recently expelled teens said border agents told them they wouldn’t be allowed to request asylum. They were placed in cells, fingerprinted and given a medical exam. Then, after four days, they were flown back to their home country of Guatemala. The AP is withholding the teens’ last names to protect their privacy.

Brenda, 16, left Guatemala in hopes of reaching the U.S. to eventually work and help her family. Her father works on a farm, but it’s not enough.

“We barely eat,” she said.

Her family borrowed $13,000 to pay a smuggler and months later she crossed illegally. Authorities later took her into custody in April at a Texas stash house, she said.

“I did ask to talk to my brother because he wanted to get a lawyer, because he wanted to fight for my case,” she said. “But they told me they were not letting people talk to anyone. No matter how much I fought, they were not letting anyone stay.”

She is now under quarantine at her family’s home.

Similarly, Osvaldo, 17, said agents wouldn’t let him call his father. He was held with other children in a cold room and issued a foil blanket as well as a new mask and pair of gloves each of the four days he was in custody.

Someone took his temperature before he was deported, but he wasn’t tested for the coronavirus until he was back in Guatemala. Osvaldo was given no immigration paperwork, just the medical report from his examination.

“I thought they would help me or let me fight my case,” Osvaldo said, “but no.”

A 10-year-old boy and his mother, whom the AP is not identifying because she fears retribution for speaking publicly, spent months at a squalid camp in Matamoros, Mexico, across from Brownsville, Texas, waiting for their immigration court dates under the Trump administration program known as “Remain in Mexico.”

When she lost an initial decision, she decided he would be better off temporarily with her brother in the United States. She watched him swim across the Rio Grande.

The woman expected he would be be treated the same as before, when such children were picked up by the U.S. Border Patrol and taken to Department of Health and Human Services facilities for eventual placement with a sponsor, usually a relative.
Full Coverage: Immigration

But the mother heard nothing until six days later, when her family received a call from a shelter in Honduras.

“They had thrown him out to Honduras,” she said. “We didn’t know anything.”

The boy now lives with a family member in the capital, Tegucigalpa. Another relative has agreed to take him back to the family’s rural village, if the mother returns to care for him. But she fears her former partner, who abused and threatened both of them.

“He doesn’t want to eat. All he does is cry,” the woman said. “I never imagined they would send him back there.”

Their case was first reported by CBS News.

Amy Cohen, a psychiatrist who works with the family and leads the advocacy group Every Last One, criticized the government’s treatment of the boy and other children.

“This boy has gone through multiple traumas, ending with the experience of being placed on a plane by himself and flown to a country where no one knew he was coming,” she said.

Under a 2008 anti-trafficking law and a federal court settlement known as the Flores agreement, children from countries other than Canada and Mexico must have access to legal counsel and cannot be immediately deported. They are also supposed to be released to family in the U.S. or otherwise held in the least restrictive setting possible. The rules are intended to prevent children from being mistreated or falling into the hands of criminals.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection began the expulsions in late March, using the emergency as justification for disregarding the Flores rules. CBP said it processed 166 children last month as “unaccompanied” minors, meaning they would be taken to HHS youth holding facilities and allowed to stay in the U.S. at least temporarily, and the remaining 600 were expelled.

But HHS says it received just 58 unaccompanied minors in April. Spokesmen for both agencies were not immediately able to address the discrepancy.

CBP says it exempts children from expulsion on a “case-by-case basis, such as when return to the home country is not possible or an agent suspects trafficking or sees signs of illness.” An agency spokesman declined to provide more specifics.

CBP acting Commissioner Mark Morgan said last week that the U.S. may keep expelling migrants even as states begin to ease coronavirus restrictions.

Meanwhile, as the virus has spread through immigration detention facilities, the U.S. has deported at least 100 people with COVID-19 to Guatemala, including minors.

Michelle Brané, director of migrant rights at the Women’s Refugee Commission, said the virus is an excuse for expelling children, and the Trump administration could admit them and still counter its spread through measures like temperature checks and quarantines.

“At the very heart of it,” she said, “it has always been about trying to block access to protection for children and families and asylum seekers.”

__

Pérez D. reported from Guatemala City.

WHITE COPS KILL A HERO
Louisville police conducting a drug bust charged into Breonna Taylor's house and shot her 8 times. Her family says they were at the wrong address.

Rhea Mahbubani MAY 13, 2020 INSIDER

Tamika Palmer, left, embraced her daughter Ju'Niyah Palmer during a vigil for her other daughter, Breonna Taylor, in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 19. Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal/Reuters

Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by the police in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 13 during a narcotics bust.

The police said someone inside the apartment opened fire at them, injuring an officer.

But a defense attorney for Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said in a court filing that the police didn't announce themselves while entering, so Walker thought someone was breaking into the apartment.

Taylor's family is being represented by Benjamin Crump, a well-known civil-rights attorney who has represented other black shooting victims, including Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin.

The shooting death of yet another black person has been thrust into the national spotlight.

This time it's the case of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was killed by the police in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, during a narcotics bust in the early hours of March 13.

The police said they returned fire after someone in the apartment shot at them, injuring an officer, The Associated Press reported.

Rob Eggert, a defense attorney for Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said in a recent court filing that the police team — two officers and one sergeant — didn't knock or announce themselves when entering the apartment, the Louisville Courier Journal reported on Tuesday.

"While police may claim to have identified themselves, they did not," Eggert wrote in the filing seen by the Courier Journal. "Mr. Walker and Ms. Taylor again heard a large bang on the door. Again, when they inquired there was no response that there was police outside. At this point, the door suddenly explodes. Counsel believes that police hit the door with a battering ram."

Photos of Taylor were displayed during a vigil for her on March 19. Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal/ReutersA complaint filed late last month by attorneys representing Taylor's family said that Walker fired one round in self-defense but that officers "failed to use any sound reasonable judgment whatsoever when firing more than 25 blind shots into multiple homes."

Eggert said that he later inspected the building where the pair lived and found evidence of at least 20 gunshots, eight of which hit Taylor, killing her, the Courier Journal reported.

The complaint said that Taylor "was shot at least eight times by the officers' gunfire and died as a result," adding that she "had posed no threat to the officers and did nothing to deserve to die at their hands."

Her family initially had a hard time finding out what happened

Taylor's family described her as a kind and honest person who loved helping people in her role as an EMT.

Tamika Palmer, Taylor's mother, told the news website The 19th that a phone call from Walker roused her from sleep in the middle of the night on March 13.

"I think they shot Breonna," Walker told her, prompting Palmer to throw on some clothes and race out of her house for Taylor's apartment.

Palmer recalled that the police were tight-lipped, seeking information on Taylor's enemies and whether she was having issues with Walker.

Palmer drove from the apartment to the hospital and back to the apartment in search of information about her child — only to realize that Taylor had died.

Palmer said she struggled to reconcile her concern for her daughter's safety while she was working on the front lines of the pandemic with her death in her own home.

"She was an essential worker. She had to go to work," Palmer said The 19th. "She didn't have a problem with that ... To not be able to sleep in her own bed without someone busting down her door and taking her life ... I was just like, 'Make sure you wash your hands!'"
An attorney who's also representing Ahmaud Arbery's family is on the case

In the lawsuit filed in late April, Taylor's family alleged that officers weren't looking for Taylor or Walker — they said the police executed the raid at the wrong address, despite having already taken a suspect into custody earlier that day.

The Courier Journal identified the suspect as Jamarcus Glover. The lawsuit said that he was detained more than 10 miles from Taylor's house and that officers identified Glover before executing the search warrant at Taylor's house, where they didn't find any drugs.

Police Chief Steve Conrad said that the police department's Criminal Interdiction Squad, which was involved in the shooting, does not use body cameras, so there's no footage of the incident, according to the Courier Journal.

The three officers involved in the case have been placed on administrative leave, the Courier Journal said, while Walker, a licensed gun owner, was arrested and faces charges of first-degree assault and attempted murder of a police officer, according to The 19th.

"Not one person has talked to me. Not one person has explained anything to me," Palmer told The 19th. "I want justice for her. I want them to say her name. There's no reason Breonna should be dead at all."

Having accused the officers of wrongful death, excessive force, and gross negligence, Taylor's family on Monday enlisted the help of Benjamin Crump, a well-known civil-rights and personal-injury attorney.

Crump issued a statement to news outlets, describing Taylor's killing as "inexcusable."

Attorney Ben Crump discussing the results of a forensic examination. Jay Reeves/AP"We stand with the family of this young woman in demanding answers from the Louisville Police Department," Crump said. "Despite the tragic circumstances surrounding her death, the Department has not provided any answers regarding the facts and circumstances of how this tragedy occurred, nor have they taken responsibility for her senseless killing."

Crump is among the lawyers working with the family of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was shot dead while jogging in southern Georgia on February 23 after being pursued by Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, both of whom are white.


The pair told the police that Arbery resembled a burglary suspect. They were arrested last week, more than two months after Arbery died; they face charges of murder and aggravated assault.

The delay of justice in Arbery's case has triggered waves of unrest and protests, as well as investigations into and calls for the resignations of local prosecutors.

Crump also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood-watch volunteer, in Florida in 2012.

Meanwhile, it's been nearly two months since Taylor was killed, but her death gained more attention after the activist Shaun King shared her story on social media.


King has pushed for charges to be brought against the officers and called on Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to intervene.

A Change.org petition seeking justice for Taylor had amassed over 11,000 signatures as of Tuesday evening.

"For weeks, the city treated Breonna like she was a criminal, calling her a 'suspect' before finally admitting that she was an innocent, crimeless victim," the petition said. "She had no drugs. She committed no crime. Yet, she is dead, and the perpetrators are facing no charges."

Taylor's sister, Ju'Niyah Palmer, has been posting pictures of the two on social media and using the hashtag #JusticeForBre.

She told The 19th that her goal was to remind people that Taylor was a victim — she didn't have so much as a criminal record.

"I'm just getting awareness for my sister, for people to know who she is, what her name is," she said.

Nebraska health officials stop reporting COVID-19 confirmations at meatpacking plants as case counts continue to rise

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz BUSINESS INSIDER MAY 13, 2020

Workers leave the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Logansport, Indiana, on May 7, 2020. Michael Conroy/AP Photo
Meatpacking plants around the US are hotspots for coronavirus cases.
As of early May in Nebraska alone, public health officials reported 96 at the Tyson plant in Madison, 237 at the JBS plant in Grand Island, and 123 arising from the Smithfield plant in Crete, The Washington Post reported.

As the cases climbed, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts announced the state would stop reporting infection numbers.

Hundreds of employees at Nebraska meatpacking plants have fallen ill — and some have died — from COVID-19, according to the Washington Post.

As of the first week of May, public health officials reported 96 infections at the Tyson plant in Madison, 237 at the JBS plant in Grand Island, and 123 arising from the Smithfield plant in Crete.

Then, as the numbers continued to rise, the state stopped releasing them.

Gov. Pete Ricketts announced at a news conference last week that state health officials would no longer share how many workers have been infected at each plant. The plants weren't releasing the numbers either, and employees and their families were left in the dark, The Post reported.

"What are you hiding?" Vy Mai, whose grandfather died of the novel coronavirus told The Post. "If the 'essential' workers are being treated fairly and protected at meatpacking plants, why aren't we allowed to know the numbers?"

Mai's grandfather was exposed to coronavirus by her aunt and uncle who were employed at a Smithfield plant in Crete, The Post reported.

Meatpacking plants have produced clusters of coronavirus outbreaks around the country. President Donald Trump has ordered the facilities to stay open to ensure the food supply isn't interrupted, but employees have told Business Insider that a lack of safeguards and a systemic work-while-sick culture puts their lives at risk.

When Ricketts stopped announcing the cases, has said he was doing so because the numbers can be unreliable, according to The Post.

He recommended that local health departments withhold the case counts unless they get permission from the plants.

The company officials declined to share numbers, citing privacy concerns and the fast-moving nature of the virus. They note that they are implementing worker protections at their plants, The Post said.

Shortly after The Post story was published, however, Tyson and Elkhorn Logan Valley health officials announced the results of testing at the company's plant in Madison, Nebraska.

Of the employees and contractors who work there, 212 tested positive for the coronavirus, The Post reported.

A white man ran through a Florida neighborhood carrying a TV to prove that looking 'suspicious' wasn't an excuse for killing Ahmaud Arbery

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz  INSIDER May 11, 2020,
Snapchat

Richard Demsick said he carried a TV while running to prove that looking "suspicious" didn't justify Ahmaud Arbery's killing in February. Richard Demsick
Richard Demsick, @jestertotheking on TikTok, filmed himself running through his neighborhood carrying a television.

The 34-year-old former pastor wanted to prove that looking like a suspect wasn't an excuse for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was shot dead while out jogging in February.

Demsick's video has gotten more than 1.2 million views and spurred conversations about social justice.

Demsick said that while he was running and carrying the TV, shirtless with a backward hat, his neighbors smiled and waved.

He made the 2-mile jog on Friday as a part of the #IRunWithMaud movement.

When Richard Demsick learned of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, he immediately thought about the privilege he had as a white man.

Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was shot dead while jogging in February after being chased by two men — Gregory and Travis McMichael — who said he looked like a break-in suspect.

In a video that trended after Arbery's death, the McMichaels could be seen pursuing Arbery in their truck while Arbery ran. Travis McMichael left the truck holding a gun and, after a brief struggle, Arbery was dead. The McMichaels later told the police they believed Arbery resembled a man behind a string of residential break-ins. They were charged with murder last week.

Demsick, 34, a former pastor in Vero Beach, Florida, said he felt that it didn't matter what he wore or how "suspicious" he looked — his whiteness alone was enough to protect him from meeting the same fate as Arbery.

He decided to prove that on Friday as part of the #IRunWithMaud movement, a virtual protest in honor of what would have been Arbery's 26th birthday.

"I just started crying when I just saw this poor young man running — as I have thousands of times in my life — get shot down," Demsick told Insider. He said he thought: "Maybe I should run with a TV to show that being a suspicious character isn't enough that someone should be shot down. Being a white person, that's just not going to happen to me."

So he did.

On Friday, Demsick ran 2.23 miles through his neighborhood while carrying a flat-screen TV.

His neighborhood, he said, recently did have a string of thefts. Despite that, his neighbors waved and smiled while he jogged.

"Not a soul" even approached him afterward to ask what he was doing, he said.

Demsick recorded parts of his run for a TikTok video that has been viewed more than 1.2 million times.

"All right, I figured it out. I've got my hat on backwards, I'm shirtless, like I'm on some episode of 'Cops.' I'm running with a TV. Someone's going to stop me now, for sure," Demsick in the video. "'Cause if not, what was the problem with Ahmaud?"

In a follow-up video on Mother's Day, Demsick asked his mom whether she was afraid for him while he went on the run with the TV, or whether she thought the police would be called.

"No, of course not," she said.

"Huh, I wonder why that is," he responded.

Black mothers, Demsick told Insider, would likely feel differently.

Demsick knows he'll never truly understand what it's like to walk in the shoes of a black man

Demsick is passionate about social-justice issues.

He grew up in the suburbs of Detroit and attended dance competitions in the city. Most of the friends he danced with were black, and many came from impoverished neighborhoods, he said. Even though Demsick was the "unique duck" in that community, he was welcomed with open arms and started to learn about the struggles his friends faced.

After becoming a pastor at what he described as a primarily upper-class conservative church in Florida, Demsick launched an outreach ministry made up of people who were struggling with homelessness and other issues.

In it, he talked about racism and the political divide.

Demsick said one of the most powerful things his parents taught him was to take the time to listen to people who come from different backgrounds and beliefs.

Supporters of the Georgia NAACP protesting Arbery's shooting death in Brunswick, Georgia. Reuters

When doing so, though, it's important to resist owning the struggles as your own, he said.

For example, he said that in discussions about the Arbery case with some white acquaintances, they had offered what they thought they would do if they were confronted with a gun as he was.

Some told him that they wouldn't have struggled with the gun and would have instead waited for the police to sort out the confusion.

But Demsick said that no matter how much people might try to understand what that would be like, for a white person, that's not possible.

"If you're a white person trying to put yourself in black people's shoes, you're just a white person in a black person's shoes," he said.
The response to the video has been overwhelmingly positive

Demsick said that after he had the idea about the run, he almost backed out because he was worried that people would misunderstand it as him making light of a tragic situation.

When he woke up for the run on Friday, he felt like he had to do it, he said.

So far, the responses have been overwhelmingly positive, Demsick said.

The videos have sparked conversations, and over the weekend he was invited to be a guest in a video conference that discussed the treatment of African-Americans in the United States.

"It was a privilege to be in that conversation," he said.

"People have been incredibly kind, undeservedly kind," Demsick added. "There are people who are daily working trying to correct the injustice. I just made a video."

Still, Demsick said he was interested in continuing to use his social-media platform for good.

One idea he has is to film himself picking a lock at someone's home — after getting permission first — to see whether the neighbors react.

"Nobody would call the cops," he hypothesized. "We all know that if I looked different, that would be a very different story."

Read more:

Gregory McMichael, who is charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, worked for years in DA Jackie Johnson's office without required gun training

In a 2014 letter, DA Jackie Johnson called his longstanding lapse of training a "great embarrassment to me and to Investigator McMichael.

Investigators who arrested a father and son in connection with the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery say 'probable cause was clear to our agents pretty quickly'

Gregory and Travis McMichael arrested in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot dead while jogging unarmed in Georgia

2 men were arrested in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The attorney for Arbery's father says if it were Arbery and his father who killed a white jogger they would have been arrested on the spot.

Family and friends of shooting victim Ahmaud Arbery are honoring his life with a 2.23-mile run after public outrage over his death led to 2 arrests

LeBron James enraged by the shooting death of an unarmed 25-year-old black man in southern Georgia, says: 'We're literally hunted everyday'

COVID-19 PUSHES BIDEN LEFT

'Not paid later, forgiveness': Joe Biden calls for rent and mortgage payments to be canceled amid the pandemic

BUSINESS INSIDER MAY 13, 2020

Joe Biden is calling for federal rent and mortgage forgiveness during the pandemic.
In an interview on Snapchat's "Good Luck America" political show, the likely Democratic presidential nominee said that rent and mortgage postponements aren't enough.
He also proposed a $15,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

Likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called for federal rent and mortgage forgiveness in an interview on Snapchat's "Good Luck America" political show.

Biden said that postponing housing payments isn't enough. "Forgiveness. Not paid later, forgiveness," Biden said in the interview, which was also published by Vanity Fair. "It's critically important to people who are in the lower-income strata."

Policies like outright rent and mortgage forgiveness could help Biden as he seeks to court progressive supporters of former candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

The issue has largely been left up to state leaders, with governors moving to postpone rent or mortgage payments.

In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom struck a deal with major banks to push mortgage payments back 90 days. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently extended a ban on evictions until August.

But homeowners and renters who have lost their income due to the coronavirus will likely need tangible financial relief to recover from the economic fallout.

Biden said he understands why governors have been unable to provide forgiveness, rather than deferrals, due to funding shortfalls, saying that it's up to the federal government to step in.

Lower-income people, who typically spend more of their income on housing costs and are unlikely to have enough savings to make up for lost wages, are more highly impacted.

Tenants around the United States went on a rent strike earlier this month, asking for rent forgiveness and arguing that many have no choice but to not pay rent. 

More broadly, Biden said that "nobody should be paying more than 30% of their income for rent."

He also said that as president he would provide a $15,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

COVID19 CLASS WAR

Fed Chair Powell says more action may be needed to fend off economic ruin.

BUSINESS INSIDER MAY 13, 2020

The economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic may be a slow one, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in a Wednesday event for the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

He added that more fiscal support could be necessary to avoid long-term economic damage.

"While the economic response has been both timely and appropriately large, it may not be the final chapter, given that the path ahead is both highly uncertain and subject to significant downside risks," Powell said.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned on Wednesday that the US economic recovery from the fallout of the coronavirus would likely be slow and require more fiscal stimulus.

The recovery "may take some time to gather momentum, and the passage of time can turn liquidity problems into solvency problems," Powell said in an event for the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

He continued: "Additional fiscal support could be costly but worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery."

Powell's remarks came two months into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. In April, the US economy lost a record 20.5 million jobs and saw the unemployment rate spike to 14.7%.

Long stretches of unemployment can leave families in greater debt, Powell said. And losing thousands of small and medium-sized businesses "would destroy the life's work and family legacy of many business and community leaders and limit the strength of the recovery when it comes," he said.

Powell cheered the actions of the government so far, noting how swiftly different groups had acted to send relief to Americans. The Federal Open Market Committee slashed interest rates to zero in March and has since gone beyond its 2008 playbook with emergency lending and buying programs to support the economy.
Congress has allocated nearly $3 trillion in funding to support small businesses, American households, and more.

Still, there could be more to come. "While the economic response has been both timely and appropriately large, it may not be the final chapter, given that the path ahead is both highly uncertain and subject to significant downside risks," Powell said.

House Democrats on Tuesday proposed an additional $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The Fed also took another unprecedented step this week when it began buying corporate bond exchange-traded funds.

When the crisis subsides, the central bank will "put these emergency tools away," Powell said. Still, he reaffirmed the central bank's "whatever it takes" approach to provide support until the crisis has passed and the economic recovery is underway.

Fed Chair Powell just said 40% of households making less than $40,000 a year lost a job in March

BUSINESS INSIDER MAY 12, 2020

Powell said that around 40% of Americans earning less than $40,000 a year lost a job in March, citing a Fed study set to be published on Thursday.

"This reversal of economic fortune has caused a level of pain that is hard to capture in words, as lives are upended amid great uncertainty about the future," he said during a webinar.

Powell also called for further economic relief to shore up a battered economy ravaged by the pandemic.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that a substantial portion of lower-income Americans had been laid off in March.

"A Fed survey being released tomorrow reflects findings similar to many others: Among people who were working in February, almost 40% of those in households making less than $40,000 a year had lost a job in March," Powell said in a webinar at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

"This reversal of economic fortune has caused a level of pain that is hard to capture in words, as lives are upended amid great uncertainty about the future," he said.

The alarming statistic set to be published in Thursday's Fed study underscores the severe pain felt among low-income workers and their families during the pandemic. Many of those jobs are concentrated in the service sector, which are less likely to have benefits like paid sick leave or the ability for employees to work from home.

A survey from the Pew Research Center released in April also found that one in four lower-income adults had any savings to cushion financial shocks caused by job losses or other emergencies.

Powell recognized the scale of the economic damage wrought by the virus. He also called for additional relief measures to further shore up a battered economy.

"Additional fiscal support could be costly, but worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery," he said.

Over 33 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the past two months, as scores of businesses shuttered and people stayed home to curb the spread of the virus.

Democrats recently unveiled a $3 trillion spending proposal aiming to extend additional lifelines to states, businesses, and people weathering the pandemic. But Republicans declared it dead-on-arrival in the Senate.

Kickstarter is laying off 18% of its "UNIONIZED" workforce as crowdfunding projects plummet during the pandemic

Tyler Sonnemaker
BUSINESS INSIDER MAY 13, 2020

Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has laid off a significant part of its workforce due to COVID-19. Hollis Johnson

Kickstarter has laid off 25 employees, around 18% of its workforce, according to a regulatory notice filed last week. 

CEO Aziz Hasan told employees in April that layoffs were likely as the crowdfunding website saw projects drop 35% from a year prior with "no clear sign of rebound," according to The Verge. 

Employees, who unionized in February, will receive several months' pay and healthcare coverage as well as a chance to reclaim their job if Kickstarter brings it back within a year as part of an earlier severance deal reached with the union. 

The company becomes the lastest venture-backed startup in recent weeks to announce sweeping layoffs. 

Kickstarter is laying off 25 employees, nearly 18% of its 140-person workforce, due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a notice filed with New York's labor department last week.

The notice indicates the layoffs will go into effect starting Friday, citing "unforeseeable business circumstances prompted by COVID-19."

In April, CEO Aziz Hasan told employees in an internal memo that the crowdfunding platform had seen projects drop by 35% from the same time a year earlier and, despite having taken several cost-cutting measures already, that it was considering layoffs, The Verge reported.

As part of a deal reached earlier in May between Kickstarter's union and the company, employees being let go will receive a severance package that includes: four months' pay, four months of healthcare coverage for employees who make more than $110,001 and six months for those making that amount or less, termination of their non-compete agreements, and a chance to reclaim their job (or a similar one) if Kickstarter brings it back within a year.

Kickstarter employees in February became the first full-time tech workers to unionize as more across the industry look to organize, becoming members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union.

DO I NEED TO POINT OUT THAT THIS IS A UNION ADVANTAGE NON UNION WORKERS DO NOT GET...WELL I DID.... 

Kickstarter is the latest in a string of venture-backed startups to announce sweeping layoffs after seeing business slow due to the coronavirus pandemic. Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb have all cut significant amounts of their workforces in recent weeks.

Kickstarter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.

BIG DATA IS BIG BROTHER
Tech used to track NBA players has been repurposed to enforce social distancing in factories and distribution centers. Here's how it works.

Shoshy Ciment

Top players in food and beverage, automotive parts, and global logistics are currently testing SafeZone in their factories. Kinexon

Localization data company Kinexon has repurposed its technology to help workers stay distanced from one another in factories.

The SafeZone solution alerts users when they are standing too close to another person.
Kinexon has used similar technology for tracking the performance of NBA players and in other industries as well.

Social distancing just got a technological leg-up on some factory floors, thanks to a new solution from localization data company Kinexon.

"We developed an ultra-precise, real-time localization technology of people and objects that can be used in digitizing factories and shop floors in the industrial world," Kinexon CEO Mehdi Bentanfous told Business Insider.
The new solution, called SafeZone, helps workers maintain distance between one another in factories and other large centers. The technology alerts users either visually or audibly in real-time when they are standing too close to another person, thanks to wearable wristband sensors, which use radio frequency waves to provide precise location data on the users to the inch.

Before the pandemic was even a thought, the company had already developed a location-focused technology for its vast portfolio of clients that monitored the distance and movement of people and objects with radio frequency waves. The company boasts an impressive clientele in the automotive and sports industries, ranging from BMW to the New York Knicks.

But with the NBA season canceled for the year and the need for social distancing in certain industries becoming more dire, Kinexon turned to its existing products to find a solution. And SafeZone was born.

Wearable wristband sensors use radio frequency waves to provide precise location data on users. Kinexon

Factories are hotbeds for infection

"The motivation of developing SafeZone has been because of the need that we saw," Bentanfous said. "And the value add that our technology provides."

As the coronavirus pandemic persists in the US, meat processing plants and fulfillment and distribution centers have become hotbeds for illness and infection. Many centers have implemented social distancing guidelines to curb spreading, but in many cases, the need for a more rigorous solution was clear.

To Bentanfous, already having the precise sensor technology that measures distance gave the company a head start on finding a solution. The next step was to modify the goal of the technology to measure the distance between two people as opposed to the location of one individual in real-time.

"The technology is the same," Bentanfous said, regarding SafeZone and the company's previous solutions. "What we calculate out of it, it's different."

Because the bones of the technology were already in place, Kinexon was able to develop, test, and prototype SafeZone within two weeks — all while working entirely from home.

Though the SafeZone technology cannot account for employees wearing masks or running fevers, there are other ways the technology can come in handy. For example, SafeZone does not provide data on an individual's identity but if an employee were to test positive for the virus, companies could be able to determine which other employees were in close proximity with that person by analyzing the movement data of the infected individual.
Kinexon technology is used by 70% of the NBA

The New York Knicks utilize Kinexon technology. Andres Kudacki/AP

A similar technology from Kinexon has been used to track the performance of athletes in a variety of sports. Across Europe and the US, more than 100 sports teams work with Kinexon to measure the movement and performance of athletes on the court or field.

More than 70% of the NBA — or over 20 teams — currently use Kinexon technology for their players, mostly as a means to monitor health and prevent injury.

"It's a very small and light sensor so that the players do not even realize they're wearing a sensor," Bentanfous said of the technology, which is seamlessly integrated into the equipment or uniforms of NFL, NHL, and collegiate athletes.

The SafeZone solution was created from a slight modification of this type of existing technology, made for the new purpose of measuring distance. Though Kinexon could not confirm the names of the companies currently using the technology, a representative said that top players in food and beverage, automotive parts, and global logistics are currently testing the product in their factories and centers.

Bentanfous added that Kinexon is currently in talks with retailers and grocers to possibly implement the technology in stores.

"Technically speaking, it can be used everywhere," Bentanfous said. "So if you are able to implement the sensor and get the persons wearing the sensors, there is no limit for that."

Worker unrest and internal tensions are forcing a dramatic reckoning at McDonald's that could forever change the fast-food icon

McDonald's workers are protesting in unprecedented numbers.

 Samantha Lee/Business Insider

McDonald's is facing unprecedented protests during the coronavirus pandemic, as workers seek higher pay and safety protections. 

"We're willing to go to jail for our children, for justice," said McDonald's worker Terrence Wise. "McDonald's should be fully aware of that." 

Tensions also emerged between executives and franchisees, creating cracks in the McDonald's unified front during the pandemic. 

McDonald's has rolled out nearly 50 new safety measures in recent weeks and is examining long-term changes such as increasing paid sick leave and raising workers' pay. 

"We did it because it was the right thing to do," said McDonald's US vice president of communications David Tovar when discussing new procedures. "Not because ... a handful of employees at nine restaurants that were propped up by the SEIU held a couple of made-for-the-media events." 

Terrence Wise has been fighting McDonald's from the inside for seven years.

The Kansas City-based fast-food worker has led strikes, protests, and even visited the Obama White House to advocate for higher minimum wages and better benefits. Wise often uses his life to explain why workers need a union. He struggles to pay his bills, he hasn't been to a doctor or dentist in 18 years, and he has been homeless twice.

But, Wise says he's never experienced anything like the coronavirus pandemic.

"We see tens of thousands of workers across the country dying," Wise told Business Insider in a recent interview. "I'm talking about the working class dying off."

 

McDonald's worker Terrence Wise has been part of the Fight for 15 movement for seven years. Fight for 15

Conversations with more than a dozen McDonald's workers, franchisees, and progressive organizers in recent weeks reveal a company under fire.

Fears of catching the coronavirus are on the minds of nearly all employees. At the same time, many are facing financial concerns, with cut hours, layoffs, and the economic downturn.

McDonald's has become public enemy No. 1 for many progressive groups during the pandemic, from the Service Employees International Union-backed Fight for 15 movement to the ACLU. As the largest and arguably the most powerful restaurant company in America, McDonald's decisions impact 850,000 workers and set the standard for the rest of the industry.

At the same time, McDonald's corporate office is in uncharted territory, as franchisees and corporate face-off and new executives' leadership is tested.

As the company attempts to balance rebuilding sales, worker safety, and its reputation in the coronavirus era, McDonald's workers' lives could change in an irreversible way.

"Workers across my city are ready to stand up and take action and go on strike whenever that's deemed necessary," Wise said. "We're willing to go to jail for our children, for justice. McDonald's should be fully aware of that. I d

on't want to sound threatening, but it's a dire situation for our families. It's life or death."

The coronavirus pandemic brought waves of strikes, protests, and bad press for McDonald's


 

A Fight for 15 protest outside McDonald's. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

McDonald's started seeing coronavirus-induced backlash even before restaurants across the US shut down their dining rooms.

Criticism heated up in mid-March when a report by The Shift Project found that, pre-pandemic, more than 500,000 McDonald's workers did not have paid sick leave. Workers began demanding personal protective equipment around the same time. The CDC had not yet recommended people wear masks, and McDonald's discouraged most employees from doing so, despite workers' mounting fears.

Criticism and concerns quickly developed into strikes. Fight for 15, a group back by the SEIU that advocates for a $15 minimum wage and the right to unionize, organized its first protest linking McDonald's workers' rights to the pandemic in Florida on March 12.

In the weeks that followed, protests skyrocketed, with strikes at McDonald's in at least nine cities. Workers demanded paid sick leave, personal protective equipment, and higher pay for working during the pandemic.

"McDonald's should be leading the way in this pandemic," said SEIU President Mary Kay Henry. "But the wealthiest fast-food company in the world has had the poorest response."

The wealthiest fast-food company in the world has had the poorest response.

According to Allynn Umel, the organizing director for Fight for 15, the coronavirus pandemic sparked McDonald's workers' first-ever spontaneous strikes, with workers walking out over lack of cleaning equipment in San Jose.

It also led to the first time Fight for 15 protesters committed to multi-day strikes, such as in Los Angeles, where employees protested for weeks until their store received deep cleaning, PPE, quarantine pay, and hazard pay.

"I think there is also a very different level of both anger and degree of boldness and willingness to take action because workers fundamentally see the impossible choice that a number of them have to make every single day," Umel said.

 

People protest what they say is a lack of personal protective equipment for employees as they close down the drive-thru at McDonald's on April 21 in Oakland, Calif. AP Photo/Ben Margot

McDonald's US vice president of communications David Tovar emphasized to Business Insider that these protests impacted only a small number of the chain's roughly 14,000 stores in the US.

But many workers who are not protesting feel forced to choose between a paycheck and safety. Six of the eight McDonald's workers who spoke with Business Insider since late April — including those who said they felt the company had done a good job responding to the pandemic — said that they had been concerned about catching the coronavirus on the job during the pandemic.

"I am practically bathing in hand sanitizer," a McDonald's worker named Niki said in late March. "I fear that I'm a soldier on the front line, bound to be the first to fall. Over cheeseburgers."

I fear that I'm a soldier on the front line, bound to be the first to fall. Over cheeseburgers.

Niki and the more than 20 workers at McDonald's and other chains who spoke with Business Insider in recent weeks were granted anonymity to speak frankly about their situation, as many said they feared for their safety and the safety of their families.

Tovar said that the company understood the perspective of workers who were worried about coming to work.

"That was a perfectly reasonable thing for all employees, not just at McDonald's, but employees at any employer, to be asking their employer about what are we doing to ensure the safety of employees," Tovar said. "And, we took that very seriously and backed that up with a lot of action."

In addition to safety concerns, some McDonald's workers are also worried about being able to pay their bills during the pandemic. Seven out of the eight McDonald's workers who spoke with Business Insider since late April said that their store had seen layoffs or that workers' hours had been cut, as locations serve limited menus, reduce hours, and close dining rooms.

Jay Shambaugh, an economist and director of the Brookings Institution's Hamilton Project, said that low unemployment often makes organizing more difficult. But, he said, visceral safety concerns have convinced workers to organize throughout history.

"Are workers more afraid of McDonald's and [losing] their jobs? Or, are you more afraid for your life and the lives of your children and your loved ones?" Wise said. "That's something that folks have to weigh. … For most, we're more concerned about our families."

Cracks are forming in McDonald's corporate facade

 

\McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski. AP Photo/Richard Drew

Leading McDonald's response to the coronavirus pandemic are two relative newcomers to their roles: CEO Chris Kempczinski and US President Joe Erlinger.

Kempczinski was promoted from US president to CEO in November when Steve Easterbrook was abruptly ousted after a romantic relationship with a coworker. Kempczinski butted heads with American franchisees as president, who saw him as an outsider working with Easterbrook to cull McDonald's independent owner-operators.

Coming into 2020, Kempczinski and Erlinger had won over both franchisees and shareholders, with impressive financials and a growth strategy untouched by the executive shakeup.

Then the pandemic came.

As COVID-19 swept through the country, the restaurant industry went into crisis mode.

McDonald's executives began meeting three times every day to keep up with the rapidly changing situation, according to Tovar. McDonald's leaders met with President Trump and other key politicians, emphasizing the importance of keeping locations open. Franchisees were informed of new safety policies on a weekly and sometimes daily basis.

Sales slumped as states sheltered in place, with same-store sales plummeting by 25% in the second half of March. The burden of slumping sales falls primarily on franchisees, who own 95% of McDonald's locations in the US.

Franchisee groups felt that the corporate office wasn't doing enough to relieve the burden, according to letters obtained by Business Insider. Blake Casper — the president of the independent National Owners Association — wrote a letter to Erlinger on April 7, blasting the company for rejecting franchisees' proposed relief plan. Casper called the decision a "microcosm of a much larger leadership clash that we hope is not inevitable," a far cry from McDonald's "McFamily" relationship with franchisees in decades past.

Casper called the decision a "microcosm of a much larger leadership clash that we hope is not inevitable."

While scrambling to develop a plan to support franchisees and rebuild sales, McDonald's was also dealing with the growing worker strikes and protests. In an internal FAQ document from late March obtained by Business Insider, the chain answered questions about "negative publicity" and concerns that McDonald's was getting a "black eye in the media."

McDonald's response to Casper's letter attempted to address both the negative press and franchisees' anger. Erlinger wrote in an April 9 letter that franchisees' plan failed to "recognize that the company has finite resources." Instead of asking for more from the company, he said franchisee groups needed to support paid sick leave and "hero" raises for workers.

According to Tovar, the back-and-forth took place at the "height of uncertainty" related to the pandemic, noting that debate and discussion helps the system produce better outcomes. "Anytime there's uncertainty and there's high anxiety, I think that's going to raise the level of discussion and emotion that goes into the dialogue that exists within the system," Tovar said.

Tovar said that McDonald's and its franchisees are maintaining a healthy dialogue.

However, McDonald's response did not satisfy owner-operators or organizers who spoke with Business Insider. One franchisee said that with sales down and McDonald's requiring franchisees to cover the costs of new safety features, he and other franchisees can't afford to raise pay.

Organizers, meanwhile, saw McDonald's pressure on franchisees as dodging responsibility. While Fight for 15 and franchisees are often at odds, Umel says that workers and owner-operators may have a common opponent during the pandemic.


"Franchisees are seeing, in this moment, that the company is not looking out for them," Umel said. "And the workers feel it as well."

America has already changed. Will McDonald's follow suit?
 

What comes next for McDonald's? REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

The battle between franchisees and McDonald's has quieted since early April.

McDonald's and franchisees rolled out nearly 50 new safety measures at all locations, including providing masks to all employees. Last week, McDonald's announced all workers in company-owned stores will receive a bonus, equal to 10% of pay earned in May, crediting franchisees as inspiration.

"We did it because it was the right thing to do," Tovar said. "Not because ... a handful of employees at nine restaurants that were propped up by the SEIU held a couple of made-for-the-media events at our restaurants."

New safety standards, as well as company-owned locations' two weeks of sick leave and heroes' raises, are supposed to be temporary changes during a pandemic. But, with internal cracks and workers under unprecedented strain, the seeds for permanent change may have already been sown.

Tovar said McDonald's is closely examining longer-term changes, including making two weeks of paid sick leave permanent and raising workers' pay, as the "new normal" sets in. All employers, including McDonald's, are going to have to look at "what are the expectations of employees or the expectations of the regulatory environment."
People stand in line for their order at a McDonald's restaurant in the Brooklyn borough of New York in March. AP Photo/Wong Maye-E

Public perceptions of fast-food workers have evolved into heroic essential employees. Hazard pay is gaining bipartisan support, with Senate Democrats introducing a plan to pay $25,000 out of a "Heroes Fund" to essential employees and Sen. Mitt Romney proposing a "Patriot Pay" plan that would boost workers' pay by $12 per hour.

Both the "Heroes Fund" and "Patriot Pay" are intended to be temporary. Progressive organizers want fundamental change.

On May Day, the ACLU launched a campaign against McDonald's — the ACLU's first public campaign to address paid sick leave. In late March, CtW Investment Group launched a campaign to vote out board members it considered responsible for delivering ex-CEO Easterbrook's $44 million payout.

"Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, it was clear that McDonald's needed more accountability at the top," Dieter Waizenegger, CtW's executive director, said in a statement. "Strong board oversight of management has become even more critical for the company to successfully navigate the pandemic."

With unemployment reaching all-time highs and hundreds of thousands of restaurants closing across the US, the American restaurant industry has been irreversibly changed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Shambaugh, the economist, says that it is too early to definitively say what comes next, but that organizing is a learned behavior. Safety concerns during the pandemic have already forced many workers to learn how to collectively advocate for themselves.

"With their backs up against the wall, if workers feel like they need to band together, that may change their behavior — even if we were to eradicate the virus quickly and working conditions were safe," Shambaugh said.

Joshua Specht, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, similarly believes it is too early to say if a "short-term outrage can become part of a long-term movement."

"It's up to workers, their advocates, and their allies, to push for meaningful political change," Specht said "But that won't be easy, in any crisis, there will be a push to say, 'we have immediate problems we need to address, no time to think about long-term solutions.'"


As businesses reopen, some McDonald's workers are continuing to protest. Last week, Florida fast-food workers with Fight for 15 organized a walkout across the state to highlight safety concerns linked to dining rooms reopening. For Wise, seven years of fast-food protests and surviving the coronavirus pandemic are just the beginning.



"The working class as a whole is awakening from top to bottom, and realizing that we get more together than we do apart," Wise said.


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