On Day Three of the 2004 Taco Bell Truth Tour, workers from Immokalee took on the masters of fast-food marketing in their own backyard in a battle of symbols, mano a mano. And despite a $250 million handicap in their advertising budget, farmworkers came out the undisputed victors at the end of a long day of marching, speeches, music, art, and protest.

The two most powerful symbols of the day: Taco Bell's dirty laundry (above) -- hundreds of soiled, sweat-stained workshirts and caps collected by tomato pickers in Immokalee, representing the exploitation behind Taco Bell's products -- hung out to dry for all the world to see on the 8-ft. security fence erected around Yum Brands headquarters for the march ...

... and a pyramid of 120 tomato buckets standing well over two stories tall that the workers erected outside the fence, representing the two tons of tomatoes that workers have to pick to earn $50 in a day in Florida's tomato fields.

Taco Bell, for its part, responded with symbols of its own: miles of security fence, dozens of off-duty police for private security, and untold numbers of Yum Brands employees standing at the windows of their office, watching the peaceful march and rally from a "safe" distance.

Symbols of work vs. symbols of fear. Symbols of corporate power vs. symbols of community and cooperation. But the battle of symbols reached a head at the end of a very long day involving hundreds of people -- a day full of action...

Early in the morning, CIW members gathered outside the Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church where they had stayed the night and began assembling the buckets and wood planks that would form the pyramid in front of Yum's offices later that afternoon.

Hard work, made easier by a spirit of cooperation and a crew of men and women accustomed to making hard work look easy.

Then it was on to the march, which began, most appropriately, at the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), an early endorser and key ally of the boycott representing over 2.5 million Presbyterians nationally. Here, CIW member Lucas Bentiez, one of the three Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureates, shares a moment with Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., before the march.

CIW member Estil Raymond also had a chance to speak -- in Haitian Creole, no less -- with Marian McClure, Director of Worldwide Ministries Division of the PCUSA, before the march. Her prayer in Creole at the send off rally gave added spirit to the CIW's Haitian members on the tour.

Proudly sporting a boycott pin on his lapel, Clifton Kirkpatrick led the crowd out to the plaza in front of the PCUSA's office and wished the marchers stength and success on the journey ahead.

 

CIW's documentation team caught the moment for posterity...

Until, finally, there was nothing left to do but march.

And as the march began, the battle of symbols was joined... Click on the link below to see the rest of the report from a great march and rally at Yum Brands!

 

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