Protest has wrong target

House Editorial

Nearly 2,400 miles away and 6 months ago, people were unfairly fired from fast-food jobs for planning to organize and asking for more reasonable working conditions.

While this may seem like a distant cause, these limits of time and space did not keep JMU students from recently gathering at the downtown Burger King and waving signs in an attempt to bring justice back to the 27 Hondurans who lost their job.

While boycotting chicken bacon ranch sandwiches in order to bring balance back to international fair labor practices may seem far-fetched, the participants truly believe in the importance of this cause. The questionable part of their plan is their focus — for failing to aid the workers.

It is illegal in Honduras to fire anyone for attempting to organize — just what Burger King did. If the justice system there does not act, then protesting the Honduran government is more logical than protesting the company that took advantage of the system.

It would be wonderful if bright poster board and balsa wood at the local food chains could topple worldwide oppression. It would truly be a remarkable day when chanting rhyming slogans at a shift manager could prompt a call to the national headquarters of an unfeeling multi-national corporation.

Sadly, this is not the way the business world operates and often the most important faces are not that of their destitute employees, but rather those of Johnson, Grant and Franklin.

While it seems ironically suiting that the corporation that owns Burger King acted in a way befitting a royal tyrant, it is the Honduran government that should be protecting the rights of their working citizens rather than looking the other way. The country has an unemployment rate of 36 percent and the government should be doing everything in its power to ensure citizens who have been working hard for years at the same job are not fired for attempting to receive the most simple and reasonable considerations from their place of business.

The protesters certainly had the best intentions in mind as they undertook this national call to action. Hopefully these same people give equal time to local disturbances.