R.I.P. US JOBS: FUNERAL SERVICE AT BAIN CAPITAL

Mitt Romney has branded himself as a business man who created jobs. This claim has drawn the asset management company he founded, Bain Capital, under close scrutiny for its record of buying up companies, downsizing them, and then bankrupting them. While this has made Bain billions of dollars, it has led to the untimely death of thousands of jobs across the U.S. … and to protestors gathering outside Bain this afternoon.

Unemployed workers, Occupiers, faith leaders, and community groups such as MASSUniting orchestrated another theatrical protest today in an attempt to garner some attention to issues they feel are being overlooked. MASSUniting is looking to bring accountability to companies and CEOs for the economic crisis. This particular protest took place across the street from Bain Capital, the company founded by presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

The protest was a mock funeral, the deceased being American jobs.

Tombstones stood lined up behind trumpeters playing “Taps.” After the song, Pastor William Dickerson of Dorchester gave a eulogy for the untimely death of American jobs that included a moment of silence.

Dickerson told the Dig he was participating in the demonstration because, “I think people need to take note of the seriousness of the economic plight that has caused a lot of pain for families.”

He went on to say that this was not the first time he’s been a part of this type of event: “I’ve had to stand with union workers who were being laid off, Verizon workers just recently. The list goes on.”

“I’m not a rookie at this,” Dickerson added with a slight laugh.

MASSUniting has been working with Mass citizens to help them voice their concerns with everything from social security cuts to billion-dollar corporations finding loopholes in their taxes to steeply increasing mortgages, worth more than the initial value of the homes themselves. The last of which was a protest I also attended on Jan. 30, snapping photos of  protestors adorned with diving suits, snorkels and goggles, among other underwater-themed paraphernalia, and marching on Bank of America to draw attention to underwater mortgages.

Darrin Howell, the community liaison for MASSUniting, thought that dramatizing the events would be a useful way of getting others interested and involved in protesting. He commented that media coverage usually doesn’t happen for the issues affecting families in smaller communities.

“Unfortunately, in the media there’s a phrase that goes: if it bleeds it leads,” said Howell.

He also said, “How do you get media attention on issues that a lot of mainstream media might stay away from?” MASSUniting seems to have found an answer. Because at the Funeral for American Jobs, there were camera crews from WCVB-TV, Channel 5, and the Spanish-speaking network Univision, along with many others.

Pastor Dickerson reiterated Howell’s sentiments about having a flare for the dramatic, “You always have to keep things in the forefront of people’s minds, so we don’t think it’s normal when you hear a family is economically decimated because of loss of jobs.”

The blaring horns in the middle of Copley Square drew onlookers and some even helped with the ceremony by placing flowers on the casket.

While it’s important to gain people’s interest and keep their attention, MASSUniting also wanted to make sure they were getting their message across. The message was that Mitt Romney and Bain Capital are “job killers.”

The tombstones had epitaphs that memorialized some of the companies that have been “killed” by Bain Capital. They said things like

“DADE BEHRING BANKRUPT 2002 1,900 LAYOFFS.”

It was also pointed out, in the flyer that was being distributed at the demonstration, that

Bain Capital made $421 million off of that bankruptcy.

From the beginning of the Republican presidential nominee race, Mitt Romney has attempted to brand himself as a business man who created jobs. He’s running on the platform that as the president of the US he’d be able to create jobs in the private sector.

This claim has drawn the asset management company he founded under close scrutiny. His opponents for the GOP nomination have harped on Bain Capital’s record of buying up companies, downsizing them, and then bankrupting them, which has made Bain billions of dollars.

While the people involved at MASSUniting are uttering the same message as some of Romney’s combatants,

they fear that the real life implications of this type of business practice are being overlooked and the families that suffer from the layoffs are being forgotten.

Darrin Howell said he’s involved in these type of demonstrations because those families need a voice.

“In my line of work, being a community organizer and being a community activist, people don’t realize how they can vent, how they can share their frustration, how they can just get involved,” Howell said over the trumpets.

Howell also added, “The Dig keep doing what you’re doing, ya’ll keep covering it.”

PHOTOS AND STORY BY OUR NEW #OCCUPY EXPERT FIELD REPORTER ARIEL RODRIGUEZ.