“I think that this is a time for a lot of different people from a lot of different causes to come together and say in a very public way that we’re pissed off” said Dustin Timberlake, one of the organi
“I think that this is a time for a lot of different people from a lot of different causes to come together and say in a very public way that we’re pissed off” said Dustin Timberlake, one of the organizers for this year’s May Day march in Richmond.
This year’s annual march will the seventh year that it hits the River City, with the tradition of honoring International Worker’s Day going all the way back to 1886 in the US. In recent years, however, the annual commemoration has focused on the struggles that low wage workers have to face all around America.
The march will leave from Abner Clay Park at 7 pm.
This is Timberlake’s first year as an organizer for the event, having made art for the march in past years. Inspired by a May Day art exhibit that Gallery 5 held in 2009, Timberlake wanted to recreate that incorporation of International Worker’s Day with First Fridays, but as Timberlake explained it, “a problem with May Day, since it’s been going on in RVA ,is who’s gonna make it happen.”
Timberlake put together the annual march, as well as a whole evening of events, in collaboration with other local organizations in recognition of the historic day of recognition.
The march will feature large scale puppets from All The Saints Theater Company and participants are encouraged to play musical instruments, form bike marshall groups, and bring out signs and banners in support of International Worker’s Day, as well as all the other causes that have hit RVA in recent months. Timberlake hopes folks from Fight For 15, the Black Lives Matter movement, the search for this missing Ayotzinapa students, and those involved in the fight against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will all be present.
“Worker’s rights is something that is tied to a lot of other issues, so we have people that are involved that are involved [with other movements] because they all tie into this grand power imbalance that exists in our world,” said the organizer.
Before the march, Virginia Southerners On New Ground will host a sharing session in Abner Clay Park starting at 5:15 where people can share personal stories of low wage work and growing up in working class families.
After the march, there will be there will be an RVA May Day retrospective mini exhibit at Gallery 5 as a part of First Fridays, where original illustrations, posters, patches, and news articles will be displayed recognizing the seven years that May Day has been in Richmond. In addition, Gallery 5 will host May Day bandana printings by local custom-made flag screen printing company Guard N Flags.
