[Peace-discuss] CIW to President-elect Obama: "Come to Immokalee"

[Ricky Baldwin]

Time to put pressure on the incoming administration to do the right thing on so many fronts - here's a good one for us from those savvy farmworkers in Immokalee...

 
In Solidarity,
Ricky


"Only those who do nothing make no mistakes." - Peter Kropotkin



----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Coalition of Immokalee Workers <workers at ciw-online.org>
To: announce at lists.ciw-online.org
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 11:19:16 AM
Subject: [CIW News] CIW to President-elect Obama: "Come to Immokalee"

Sustainable food blog Grist.org asks CIW for "elevator pitch" to
President-elect Obama on farmworker justice!... CIW joins Eric
Schlosser, Michael Pollan, Anna Lappé, and more leaders in sustainable
food and agriculture in "advising" the new president on how to address
the inequities of our food industry.

Go to the CIW site -- http://www.ciw-online.org -- today for more on
this exciting and inspiring series, entitled "Going Up!", on Grist.org
for some of the best ideas on what might be next in our country's
efforts to humanize and modernize our food industry.

Here's the text of the CIW's message to President Obama:

    "Dear President Obama:

    We know you?re a busy man, so we?ll get right to the point: Come
to Immokalee.

    Your victory has allowed us to dream again. Our dream is for a US
food industry founded on respect for human rights, not exploitation of
human beings.

    That?s why it?s so important for you to come to Immokalee, the
town that, in many ways, has come to symbolize the struggle of
millions of our nation?s farmworkers to survive in the face of
grinding poverty, degrading working conditions, and constant human
rights violations ? the town that one federal prosecutor called
?ground zero for modern-day slavery.? Indeed, the most recent
Department of Justice prosecution for slavery helped free workers who
were forced to pick tomatoes against their will, chained and locked
inside u-haul trucks, and beaten by farm labor bosses ? right here in
Immokalee.

    We know you?ve got a lot on your plate. The economic crisis, two
wars, climate change? the brutal and unending exploitation of
farmworkers, no matter how terrible, just doesn?t rise to the level of
the innumerable crises you?ve inherited. We understand that.

    But we ask you: Where else could so little of your time have such
a great impact? With one brief visit, you would bring more attention
to the disgraceful treatment of our country?s farmworkers than all the
Harvest of Shame exposés, slavery prosecutions, Congressional
hearings, and US Presidents since Lincoln combined. With our Campaign
for Fair Food, we could turn that attention into action and end
generations of farm labor abuse once and for all.

    All we need is the right champion, someone who truly cares about
the working poor, someone who represents hope to Americans who have
been marginalized for far too long, someone like you. And we can do it
with just a couple hours of your time."

*********************

Now, do we think such a thing might ever come to pass? Probably not,
but as we say, a community can dream...

And it's not totally without precedent. Governor Jeb Bush came down to
Immokalee and met with CIW leaders during his campaign, following the
month-long hunger strike by six of our members in 1998, and one of his
first acts as Governor-elect was to help expand on wage gains we had
won earlier that year.

Much, much more remains to be done, of course -- as evidenced by the
six slavery operations brought to justice since Governor Bush took
office (the latest of which came on Governor Crist's watch, of
course...) -- but who better to help us do it than President Obama?
Food for thought...

Thanks - Coalition of Immokalee Workers

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