The Nightwatchman's "Justice Tour"

Asheville, North Carolina

Justice: Just Economics

Earth Day 2008 found The Justice Tour in Asheville, North Carolina, which was ideal because it is a gorgeous piece of Earth.  Wow.  We flew in (on a little commuter jet - eek) to see rolling mountains, blossoms and pale green leaves on all the trees, drinking up springtime ... and cool home-made Justice Tour posters everywhere.  This town knew we were coming, and were very excited about it, as were we.

The charity for our 4th leg of the tour was Just Economics, a grassroots organization that advocates for low-wage workers to have equitable economic conditions and increased union representation. They (and we) believe that every person has the right to good and dignified work that allows to support one's family. ALL workers deserve fair wages, safe working conditions, and the right to have a voice.  Their purpose with their "Living Wage Campaign" is to get local businesses to sign on to become "Living Wage Certified": (complete with a sticker in the window) employers that pay their workers enough to meet their basic necessities, without public or private assistance.  In Asheville, NC, that means $11.35 an hour.  But as a Founder of the organization, Ernie Boyd, said, "That's a floor, and a shaky floor.  It's a stretch to say paying a living wage is doing God's work".

We met Ernie and his colleagues at their office in Western Asheville.  The Nightwatchman, The Freedom Fighter Orchestra (Breckin Meyer and Dave Gibbs on this stop), Wayne Kramer, and Boots Riley (straight from the airport) introduced themselves to the Just Economics people (including the lovely Laura Gordon, Sarah, Tyrone and Zach) and some people from Children First, another local non-profit.  Mark Case was there representing the union people, as head of the local postal union.  We sat around a conference table and talked about the fact that change only happens from the bottom up. Mark said that "unions only form when people want them to form", and that the number one thing people can do is keep their job. During election cycles, voters tend to get distracted by side issues (abortion, gay marriage, etc ...), when the bottom line, according to Mark, is you need to be voting to keep your job.

Tom shared that he'd been to Asheville before and he wasn't excited about it at all, and then had his best show of that tour here, so knew that he wanted to include it on the Justice tour, so here we were.  We had just found out that a local bakery had heard about the tour coming and signed on to be Living Wage Certified as a result.  Boots said, "I came ready to fight, and bum-rush the bakery."  We didn't need to, and instead were here to congratulate them.

The Living Wage is an issue here because wages are depressed due to mills and factories closing (NAFTA), and cost of living is high.  But nothing can happen until workers have had ENOUGH. Living Wage Certification is a voluntary program to sign onto, and as Sarah said, "Just the tour posters have inspired conversations that we're associated with these amazing rock stars." (I kind of think The Nightwatchman might need to start wearing a cape when we swoop into these places to do good).  Everyone is living on credit, Mark said in his smooth Southern drawl, "even for one 41 cent stamp ... this thing is gonna blow." - meaning our economy.

So getting people to sign the pledge to support the local businesses that are Living Wage Certified was our primary goal, and since The West End Bakery had just been certified, that's where we headed.

People were waiting.  We walked into the bakery, populated with a fairly granola (with tattoos) demographic, that seemed to make up the majority of the town, along with retirees that have moved in.  It smelled good in there, and I would strongly suggest folks go there for the deliciousness AND their support of human rights.  One young man standing next to me said, "That's lahk (trying to get the accent right) my favorite guitar player EVER, right THERE!  And he's a regular guy, this is so weird!"

Tom took a microphone outside to announce to the citizens gathered that The West End Bakery was now Living Wage Certified, so should be the only place in town to get your baked goods, until the others join in, in a sort of "Backwards Boycott."  Oh, and that he and his friends were going to put on a "Hellaciously rocking show!" (they sure did).

Then it was time to officially affix the "Living Wage Certified" sticker in the window.  It was kind of small, so he said, "We're going to put some of the proceeds from tonight's show towards getting bigger stickers."  We were invited to have lunch at the Bakery - Thank you to owner, Lewis Lankford. It was delicious. Go there. - and then the guys went around with clipboards getting people to sign the pledge to support LW Certified businesses, which will encourage more employers to sign up, is the hope.  The people of Asheville are so polite, and would approach Tom for an autograph, ("Not until you sign the pledge" - so they did get a little toned-arming in) saying, "Excuse me, Mr. Morello" ...  "You can call me Tom."  They all chatted and took photos, and it felt so normal, but you could see the thrill on the faces every time.  It was not hard to get all the little pledge forms filled out, trust me.

I personally think it is OFFENSIVE that there even has to be such a thing as a "Living Wage Campaign".  As a Presidential candidate with a similar background to Mr. Morello (sorry, "Tom") has said, "If you work, you should not be poor."  But since the corporations HAVE taken over, and we have not yet had the revolution against that (I said, yet), thank GOODNESS there are fine people out there like the ones at Just Economics who have the Peoples' backs.  May it grow across the country, across the land - OUR land.

- Carol Gronner

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