Employees at Publix, one of the Southeast’s most popular grocery chains, have tested positive for the coronavirus, and one Florida man is loudly saying what so many of us think about that.
That man is Algernod Lanier Washington.
The 43-year-old Florida rapper better known as Plies went on Twitter yesterday to post a minute-long video wondering why the hell Publix employees—plus other non-healthcare frontline workers like bank tellers, airline stewardesses and even “fucking doctors”—don’t get paid like they’re risking their lives.
🗣🗣🗣🗣 (CEO’s/Goverment) Anybody Who Out Here RiskingThey Life Should Be Getting Paid Like They Risking They Life!!!! pic.twitter.com/Mmqa4vwm5Y
— Plies (@plies) March 31, 2020
I personally listened to the minute-long video three full times while transcribing it, and there’s no way around Plies’ argument. He absolutely gets it.
“I woke up this morning, and I thought about it… this shit about, ‘We the richest country in the world,’ I get all of that,” Plies said before diving into some math. “But what I don't get, you tell us 100,000 people gonna die from this pandemic. Only 3,000 people that died so far. So that means 97,000 more people gotta die.”
“People are here on the front line, still risking they fucking life, while you CEOs home quarantined with you goddamn family,” Plies—who recently recorded a music video in South Tampa—noted, adding that even $30 an hour isn’t enough to risk your life.
“You don't risk your fucking life but no $9 an hour, no $11 an hour, no fucking $30 an hour,” he said. “Pay' em like they risking their life.”
Twitter agreed.
“You talking right. I work In the EMERGENCY ROOM and I’m not getting a dime extra. As a matter of fact, if I need to stay home to self monitor, I have to use my PTO,” wrote one user. Another quoted the damn bible.
One man even encouraged Plies to run for president, but not until 2024.
The news comes as U.S. News reports that Donald Trump is considering giving health care workers hazard pay for their work handling the coronavirus pandemic, and in the same week that Publix—which just workers wear masks and gloves—finally said that it would offer paid sick leave for employees who test positive for coronavirus.
Yesterday, the City of Atlanta said it would pay frontline workers—including sworn public safety positions and civilians performing critical watershed, aviation, solid waste workers and more—an extra $500 a month.
Someone please make a remix out of this rant. Read the full transcript below:
I woke up this morning, and I thought about. "Yeah y'all, this shit about we the richest country in the world." I get all of that.
But what I don't get, you tell us 100,000 people gonna die from this pandemic. Only 3000 people that died so far.
So that means 97,000 more people gotta die. And you got people out here, still on the fucking front line working. Whether they at Publix at Walmart, wether they work at the bank, airline stewardess, a fucking doctor.
People are here on the front line, still risking they fucking life, while you CEOs home quarantined with you goddamn family.
And all I'm saying is, if they gonna risk they fucking life, pay 'em like they fucking risking they life.
You don't risk your fucking life but no $9 an hour, no $11 an hour. No fucking $30 an hour.
Pay' em like they risking their life.
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This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2020.