Day 3 of Cosecha action: Salsa shutdown at Walmart demonstrates that interrupting capitalism will bring out the cops

On Friday, I reported on the May Day march that Movimiento Cosecha organized in Grand Rapids. On Saturday, I wrote about the cultural event that Movimiento Cosecha hosted, along with the exciting announcement about SECOM becoming a Sanctuary space for immigrants. Today, I want to summarize the salsa shutdown action that took place at Walmart on 54th Street in Wyoming, MI.

The Walton family owns Walmart, one of the largest retail corporations on the planet. Walton family members are listed on the Forbes Billionaire list, and at least 3 of them are each worth more than $100 Billion. The Walton family spent $32 Million in the 2024 election, with a 5 to 1 ratio of their money going to Republican candidates. In addition, Walmart has been exploiting workers for decades. According to inequality.org: 

Amazon and Walmart credit their status to low prices, convenience and speed. These two 21st-century retail kingdoms, like the medieval fiefdoms of old, rest heavily on exploiting workers.

A recent report from Oxfam, the global nonprofit working to end inequality, convincingly details this exploitation.

The action organized by Movimiento Cosecha wanted to highlight these issues about Walmart, along with their investments in the private prison/detention industry. 

About 25 people went into the Walmart store, acting like customers. Instead of shopping, those who entered converged in a certain area of the store when someone started music that people could dance to. People danced in the area that people pass through to get to the checkout stations, thus making it harder for people to check out and disrupting Walmart’s ability to make money.

People were taking pictures & video of the action, and eventually Walmart management came by to ask people to stop disrupting customers. People ignored the Walmart staff and continued dancing to the music. After about 20 minutes of dancing, one of the Cosecha organizers use the speaker they brought with them to speak for a bit about why they were there, what is happening to immigrants in the US, along with addressing how Walmart exploits those who work there. Several people said that they saw some of the Walmart workers listen to the comments and even give thumbs up for the solidarity. You can watch video of the Salsa Shutdown here.

Eventually, the Wyoming Police showed up, with at least 6 cruisers converging on the store. Crowd safety people alerted the Cosecha organizers that the police were coming in, and as soon as they did people began leaving the store, many of them dancing their way out of the Walmart. 

The Wyoming cops who came in followed those who participated in the “Salsa Shutdown”, even walking behind them as they made their way to the far end of the parking lot where people first gathered. One Cosecha organizer then thanked everyone for coming out and made a few announcement about upcoming actions and campaigns. 

While the Cosecha organizer was talking, at least one of the Wyoming cops began to write down the license plate numbers for some of the cars. Crowd safety people were asked to drive behind the Cosecha organizers in order to make sure than the cops did not follow them home. The Wyoming police demonstrated once again that cops will defend Capitalism no matter what, and that working class people will be targeted for disrupting companies like Walmart that are more interested in profits rather than people.