Pruitt's Boycott: Week 2
by s Saturday, Nov. 03, 2007 at 4:11 PM

Week two: Pruitt's boycott

Week two of the renewed boycott against Pruitt's at 36th St. and Thomas in Phoenix was a bit smaller than last week.

The protests are in response to the owner of Pruitt's and other local business owners getting sheriff joe arpaio to harass and arrest day laborers in the area. They had arrested ten, and additionally arrested six more a few days ago.

Pruitt's delivery trucks lined the edge of the parking lot this time. Was it to make the protesters less visible to traffic? To keep sheriff joe from making a fool of himself again? To deter racists from causing a scene? To provide shade for protesters? Maybe all of the above. Sheriff joe didn't make it out this time, although sheriff's officers parked cars behind the business. Phoenix police in small numbers could be seen parked around the area, with some of the community cops hanging out on the sidewalk. There was a handful of counter-protesters across the street and some who stood briefly in front of the Pruitt's building. They took a lot of pictures as they often do. One of them looked to me like roy warden of tucson, an usually belligerent man who has assaulted as least one person in tucson, threatened others' lives, and harassed mexican-americans as they waited in line to vote.

After the protest had been going on for a while, we suddenly heard Bob Marley playing loudly in the parking lot of Pruitt's. My first thought was that someone had decided to protest Pruitt's in this manner. Turns out the Pruitt's people hired a DJ to play this as well as some Fine Young Cannibals, Talking Heads, and other random stuff. This may have been in response to the mariachis who were soon to perform on the sidewalk with the demonstrators.

Overall, the demonstration was without drama and they/we plan to continue the boycott and demonstrations every Saturday.

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