'Agitators', Family Dollar, and a rip-off at half the price
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On May 30th, Rochester joined the rest of the world in protesting racist police terror and murder imposed on Black People across the United States. In response to the protest, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren decried the events stating that 'outsiders' had been responsible for the 'violence' that followed the 'peaceful' BLM event. Warren noted, "Outsiders – and I do mean outsiders – not from our city, not from our community, decided to set police cars on fire". She later clarified that "Outsiders. Outsiders of the Black Lives Matter movement. People that came to agitate and irritate were the ones that started the destruction, that set the police car on fire, and defaced our police station." Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle noted, "Warren personalized her remarks by talking about the destruction of the "Family Dollar that my cousin works at," and that her cousin no longer knows whether she will still have a job there."
Both the 'outsiders' who 'agitate,' and the Family Dollar remarks are problematic. The former is doublespeak, or an attempt to shuffle the meaning of words to shift the systemic failures of the state onto the community. By spouting the lie of blaming 'outsiders' for the violence, Mayor Warren attempts to invalidate the uprising by claiming that the riot was somehow an outside plot, rather than the oppressed demanding that their voices be heard against the racist and violent police. The latter reeks of ignorance of Family Dollar's role in the destruction of urban communities, given the daily hoarding and looting that Dollar Tree Stores Incorporated exhibits in its business endeavors throughout communities across the nation.
The notion of 'outsiders' who 'agitate' are and always have been dubious claims. The claims date as early as the antebellum era of the south and are thrown around by those in power after mass uprisings. The allegations have been used by a range of power brokers, from businessmen such as the Rockefellers and Andrew Carnegie to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. University of Texas at Austin Professor Peniel Joseph has defined the claims as, "…whatever conflict, political rebellion or demonstration is happening, it's not organically home grown, it's not authentic. That none of these troubles would happen if not for outside agitators", while Howard University law professor Justin Hansford has defined the claims as "a racial term… that protests are somehow less legitimate and really run by people who are, not black, usually white people, who are not local — people who are from different parts of the country or different parts of the world." Basically, the claims are that individuals, not from the local community, are either organizing the demonstrations or are the cause of what the government sees as the questionable actions of the protests.
Outside of being a false statement, which I will comment on later, Mayor Warren's claims undermine the event in several ways. For one, the allegations provide cover to Warren and the police for any wrongdoings that are cause for the uprising. The Mayor doesn't have to face questions about the 14 suspicious deaths since 1975 at the hands of RPD, as well as the countless number of cases in which RPD has used excessive force if the current disdain in Rochester is orchestrated by 'outsiders' of the community. The Mayor can handwave calls for action if she can claim the calls are from 'outsiders.' In turn, by providing cover for its role in instigating the uprisings, Mayor Warren further obfuscates the government's oppression of the Black community through the justification of violent action against demonstrators. Tear gas and pepper bullets are more palatable to the public when they are characterized as being shot at 'outsiders' who have 'agitated' the government, as opposed to the government shooting our neighbors and community members. As former undercover FBI agent, Michael German explained, "It hard for police to violently respond to protests by the community they're sworn to protect. So, saying its outside agitators, helps them justify more violence,"
Additionally, the Mayor's claims undermine the uprising as they whitewash demonstrations and organizers. If the Mayor can claim specific actions are not by community members, then the implicit suggestion is that the activities must be carried out by white people. Rochester is a majority non-white city, while every other population outside of the Rochester community (County, surrounding Counties, Region, State, Nation) is overwhelmingly white. Unsurprisingly, the Mayor explicitly suggested this whitewashing when she rebuked City Councilmember Mary Lupien's 'no' vote of the city budget.
The white Councilmember was the only dissenting vote to the city's budget after accurately stating the city spends more on RPD's budget than on schools, libraries, and youth services combined when factoring in pension costs. The Mayor characterized the factoring in of pension costs when discussing the budget as "absolutely absurd." She did not explain why it was absurd, nor did she explain why one would not factor in the cost given that the city contributes to the fund. Instead, the Mayor went on to claim the Councilmember's statements were meant to incite and that "people who promote themselves, and the existing broken system, rather than empowering black and brown people to truly change the system. ... Black and brown people don't need a savior."
Organizers of the May 30th event clapped back at the response, as all forms of Black people have organized the events in Rochester. It has been Black people who have planned rallies and lead the movement, and any suggestion otherwise is a lie. Sadly, the Mayor's comments attempt to strip agency from the organizers and paint Lupien and other white resistors as a type of adventurists. The comments further deny any oppression RPD and the government may impose against Black people.
Even without any of the above contexts, the claims of 'outsiders' who 'agitate' are quite simply a bold face lie. The comments are a lie simply because every report has indicated that those arrested have been from the community. Based on public reporting, only one person has been arrested from outside of the county, while an overwhelming majority of arrests have been from individuals who live in city limits. This should come as no surprise, as this was the case in Ferguson back in 2014, as well as the case currently in Minnesota, Miami, and neighboring Buffalo.
What is more disturbing than the lies is the fact that local reporters seemingly knew the claims were lies, yet the claims were printed anyways and have yet to be redacted or followed up. Reporter Justin Murphy noted, "The Democrat and Chronicle has no independent confirmation of the identities of anyone who may have instigated the unrest, and officials did not provide any proof," Yet the newspaper ran the Mayor's comments without publishing any direct questioning of the Mayor's remarks. The press has yet to publicly follow up on the claims through either an investigative report or op-ed, even though there is no indication the allegations are true. Contrast this with Minnesota, where actual investigative reporting takes place. Reporters combed through arrest records, and in turn, forced the Mayor of St. Paul to walk back statements on 'outside agitators,' as records showed residences made up an overwhelming majority of arrests.
Though the use of 'outsiders' who 'agitate' can be dismissed as a trope, to do so undermines the sinister nature of its usage. When Mayor Warren and similar government leaders uniformly make these claims, they do so not as a literary device for theatrics. The words are doublespeak and are a form of government propaganda. Author Edward S. Herman has described doublespeak as the implicit redefinition of terms, the manipulation of verbatim, and, "the ability to lie, whether knowingly or unconsciously, and to get away with it; and the ability to use lies and choose and shape facts selectively, blocking out those that don't fit an agenda or program."
Included in Herman's doublespeak dictionary is the word 'agitator.' Herman describes the concept as "The source of disaffection and riots among otherwise contented people." Ironically, Herman uses FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover as an example of the 'agitator' doublespeak term.
Hoover stated that 'outside agitators' had played a role in the 1967 negro riots, commonly known as the 'long, hot summer of 1967'. By shifting the blame onto 'agitators' as being the cause of the riots, Hoover was able to both push the false notion of contentment among Blacks, while also justifying a hardline approach by the government against protestors. In turn, the government killed over 80 people during the summer of 1967 and injured over 2,000 citizens. It should come as no surprise that the context of the 1967 riots was used as a justification of the phrase 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' by Miami police chief Walter Headley. While the vile distortion of ‘agitators’ justifies state violence, the Mayor's second comment may be much worse, given the continued exploitation and looting exhibited by Family Dollar Inc.
Journalist Alec McGillis recently wrote a harrowing article on what he describes as, "one of the most dangerous low-wage jobs in America, even before it became a form of essential worker during Covid-19: dollar-store clerk.” McGillis details the plight of dollar-store clerks, specifically the violence and exploitation concocted by Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. The organization operates low-staffed and physically jumbled stores that, in turn, place workers in dangerous positions that have become feeding grounds for violence. McGillis writes, “Because dollar stores are heavily concentrated in poor towns and neighborhoods, many middle- and upper-middle-class consumers are unaware of their ubiquity — or of the frequency of armed robberies and shootings.” The frequency of violence led McGillis to interview dozens of clerks, some of who have died on the job. Others have been fired for attempting to defend themselves while working as clerks.
McGillis writes that dollar stores are purposely unequipped to protect clerks as their business practices undercut traditional grocery and ‘small-business’ stores. Undercuttings include less staff on hand than conventional stores, a lack of security guards in many stores, as well as inadequate cameras that limit record-keeping for when robberies take place. These conditions create opportunities for robberies and violence. McGillis writes that “Robberies and killings that have taken place at dollar store chains would not have necessarily happened elsewhere…Making it harder to commit a crime doesn’t just push crime elsewhere; it reduces it.”
Additionally, McGillis writes that this low-cost method of operation has historically been the business strategy of Family Dollar and its parent company, Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. Dollar Tree owner Hurley Turner’s business strategy was to seek out cheap real estate for storefronts, while also paying poorly; “Wages were to be kept at a maximum of 5% of a store’s gross sales, which, Cal Jr. [son of owner Hurley Turner] acknowledged, “placed us at the bottom of a low-paying industry.” This method of operating stores maximized revenue provided by the low-priced goods found at the stores. Presently, the company has lamented the rise of hourly wage across the nation, while noting in financial statements that it hopes not to have to increase security at stores. Financial statements from 2019 emphasized the increase in security could “adversely affect” economic conditions. Company execs expressed, “Our ability to pass along labor costs to our customers is constrained by our everyday low-price model …and we may not be able to offset such increased costs elsewhere in our business.”
Although dollar stores are cited as filling a need for low-income populations, further evidence shows that the stores’ business practices further exacerbate inequalities. A report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance illustrates how dollar stores worsen income, health, and access inequalities. By competing with grocery stores, dollar stores reduce communities’ access to fresh foods. In contrast, the strategy of saturating neighborhoods with multiple stores makes it difficult for new grocers and other businesses to grow. Additionally, while the stores market their pricing as lower than groceries, the single-serving packaging of many of their products means their goods are often higher per-unit price than competitors. The higher per-unit rate means that in the long-term, individuals who shop at dollar stores are almost always paying more for their goods than individuals who are privileged to shop at traditional grocery stores.
The exacerbation also means that any profits that potentially cycle into local communities and the local economy through community-owned ventures are instead diverted to Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. McGillis mentions that Dollar General has seen its share price triple over the past five years, with its CEO taking in $10 million in total compensation, or about 800 times the median pay of workers at the company. Dollar Tree’s CEO was paid about the same. This is all while the stores face class-action lawsuits for violating labor laws, as well as a potential lawsuit organized by victims of violence at dollar generals. A quick internet search of their suits revealed Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. had paid $129 million in penalties since 2000.
Not only do c-suite execs acknowledge this looting of communities, execs see this looting as literally the driver of their core customer. The parasitic brand thrives off the most impoverished communities while paying the lowest wages possible, all the while hoarding profits that could potentially be reinvested into communities should other businesses take their place. And yet this is the company the Mayor decides to acknowledge a day after the uprisings. All while the nation faces a once in a generation pandemic and the unemployment of tens of millions of Americans.
This mentioning of family relations is a common trope by Mayor Warren, as it paints an empathic picture of her being ‘one of the people.’ By connecting with the common Rochesterian, Mayor Warren attempts to show herself as the same with Rochester’s working-class. The problem with the statement, along with several other past comments, are that they display Mayor Warren’s inability to recognize her placement among the bourgeoisie, while the remarks protect the actual looters within our community.
Mayor Warren cites a better future for ‘our children’ as justification for radical change to the local Rochester City School District, yet her daughter attends a private school outside of city limits. Mayor Warren has said it would be unconscionable for a healthcare provider to administer an STD vaccine to her daughter without her consent and has used this ‘contrary to fact’ fallacy as an excuse to lobby against three state sex health bills. And yet Warren’s position as Mayor privileges her access to premier healthcare, which in turn allows Warren to choose her daughter’s provider at will and as she pleases. The Mayor uses her cousin’s employer as an example of the consequences of rioting and looting. And yet the Mayor’s cousin’s employer is one of the largest looters of the working class, and the employer perpetually places Warren’s cousin at risk. To quote Mayor Warren, Dollar Tree, Inc. are the “Outsiders – and I do mean outsiders – not from our city, not from our community…that agitate and irritate,” our community.
