Getachew Mengesha – an Ethopian taxi driver
“When I came to the United States, I thought I came to a free country… but when I get into this industry, I was like a volunteer slave.”
Getachew Mengesha came to the United States in the 1990s and received political asylum in 2002. He was working in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2006. He eventually lost his job and struggled to find work in the ensuing recession. He moved to Maryland and found a job as a taxi driver but quickly realized that the industry was extremely exploitative. He joined the Prince George’s County Taxi Workers Alliance and led an effort to update the county’s taxi code which proved successful through a unanimous vote of the county council last month. Learn more about the struggle here and listen to Getachew’s story below.
2getachew_july181.mp3