Wells Fargo Protest Not Pointless

Letter to the Editor
Register-Pajaronian

Emilio Martinez's opinion article in the May 5th edition of the
Register-Pajaronian proves the community's rally and protest against Wells
Fargo on May 1st was not pointless. This action has sparked discussion and
analysis about corporate accountability, as well as how much we don't know
about what we are supporting with our hard-earned dollars here locally.
Mr. Martinez's claim that the employees of Wells Fargo were the target of
the protest is incorrect. Our focus was to educate the community about
Wells Fargo's 8% ownership of the GEO Group Inc. It's very convenient to
try to silence all protest and dissent by requesting that we "drive 80
miles" to the Wells Fargo headquearters in San Francisco. I suppose the
nice crowd who have been protesting the war in Iraq every Friday since its
inception should also pack up and take it to the White House? Community
awareness is the first step in building solidarity for a cause that is
virtually unknown. To own 8% of a multi-billion dollar corporation with
such a huge list of human rights abuses - such as detainees dying because
of inadequate healthcare, illegal strip searches, and the hiring of sex
offenders as prison guards - is to share responsibility for those actions.
Not to worry, local protests won't drive Wells Fargo out of town, they
make too much money off the same immigrants they're helping incarcerate.
I'm sure that with Watsonville and Salinas being some of the top cities in
the country with most foreclosed homes because of predatory lending to
immigrants, Mr. Martinez could come up with a better explanation of why we
shouldn't boycott Wells Fargo. Good luck in trying to do so.

Ramiro Medrano
Watsonville, CA.