V-Day Annual Report 2017 - RISE FOR WOMEN WORKERS 1 | Page 18

“THE TIME IS NOW” FEATURING THANDIE NEWTON
In October, Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United and One Billion Rising released a
video called “The Time is Now,” featuring V-Board member Thandie Newton, and New York-
based actor and ROC member Chantal George. The piece was directed by Sekou Luke, an
independent artist who is a former restaurant worker and member of ROC.
The video is a direct and artful attack on the racist history of the separate, lower wage for
tipped workers in the U.S. Newton describes the subminimum wage as an economic system
rooted in the nation’s history of slavery that subjected people of color to different standards
of governing employment. This legacy persists to this day in the form of a $2.13 federal tipped
minimum wage.