August 16, 2020

Protesters Just Took Their Fight to Save the Postal Service to the Steps of the Postmaster General’s Mansion

A group of protesters hold a demonstration in front of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's home in Greensboro, North Carolina on August 16, 2020. LOGAN CYRUS/Getty

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Demonstrators delivered their displeasure over changes at the Postal Service directly to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Sunday—in the form of a protest outside his mansion in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The gathering, which reportedly included about 100 people, followed another demonstration calling for DeJoy’s resignation in front of his home in Washington, DC, on Saturday. Both followed reports this week that under DeJoy, a major Republican donor, the Postal Service is experiencing delays, has removed mail-sorting machines ahead of the November elections, and has warned states that it may not be able to meet deadlines for mailed-in ballots. In response to the reports, and President Trump’s admission Thursday that he is blocking funding for the Postal Service in a brazen attempt to disenfranchise voters, the House Oversight Committee on Sunday called for DeJoy to testify later this month at an “urgent hearing.”  

Protesters in Greensboro carried signs that read things like, “Save our postal system,” “Dump DeJoy,” and “I’m tired”; they chanted the old standby, “Na Na Na Na Hey Hey-ey Goodbye“. One guy (who happens to be the founder of a Grammy-nominated string band) even brought a banjo and sang a postal-themed ditty:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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