Public opinion polls reveal that a significant majority of Americans believe that there is too much power in the hands of a few rich people and corporations, that our political and economic system unfairly favors the wealthy and that wealthy people don’t pay their fair share of taxes. 99 percent” theme, which has quickly become part of the Americans’ everyday conversations. Activists as well as many politicians and pundits have embraced its “one percent vs. The Occupiers were soon evicted from the parks and other places they temporarily inhabited, but movement’s message has continued to resonate with the American public. The swelling anger over inequality began with the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in September 2011 and spread quickly from New York City to cities across the country. It is sometimes difficult to recognize historical events as they unfold, but it is likely that future generations will look at these Walmart protests as a major turning point that helped move the nation in a new direction, similar to the sit-down strikes among Flint auto workers in 1937, the Woolworth lunch counter sit-ins by civil rights activists in 1960 and the first Earth Day in 1970 that jump-started the environmental movement. Keith Ellison (D-MN) women’s groups including the National Organization for Women and environmental and consumer organizations such as the Sierra Club and the National Consumers League have all pledged support, saying that the Walmart workers’ fight is a fight for all Americans. National leaders and community groups from every corner of the country will join Walmart workers at protests leading up to and on Black Friday. But they also represent the vanguard of a sharp challenge to the nation’s widening economic divide and the declining standard of living among the majority of Americans. The Black Friday rallies and demonstrations represent a dramatic escalation of the growing protest movement among employees of America’s largest private employer. But at more than 1,500 of Walmart’s 4,000 stores, shoppers will be greeted by Walmart employees handing out leaflets and holding picket signs - “Walmart: Stop Bullying, Stop Firing, Start Paying” and “We’re Drawing a Line at the Poverty Line: $25,000/year” - protesting the company’s abusive labor practices, including poverty-level wages, stingy benefits and irregular work schedules that make it impossible for their families to make ends meet. This Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, tens of millions of Americans will travel to Walmart stores to look for holiday discounts on computers, toys and cell phones as well as to buy groceries and basic household items.
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