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| Arturo Rodriguez | ||||
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Last summer while I was visiting my family out in Utah I tried my hand at working at a farm picking raspberries. My family did it every season because it was good money and the farm owners needed the help harvesting. I put in a days work and I said to myself never again. Picking raspberries out there wasn’t as labor intensive and demanding as picking grapes, lettuce and other foods out in the valleys here in California. Or having to live out there and breathing in all that pesticide and chemicals used out there. But half way into the day my arms were scratched up, I was sneezing, I had watery eyes from all the pollen and my back was already aching from all the bending. There’s no machine or technique for this kind of work. It has to be done by hand and with care, other wise it all goes to waste.
I made $60 that by filling a few boxes full of those little green baskets and walked away with new found appreciation for all the labor that goes into the foods I eat. That’s why the United Farm Workers have created the “Take Our Jobs” campaign to hire citizens and legal residents to work out in the fields and do the work that undocumented individuals are doing already.
“Take Our Jobs is a national campaign led by United Farm Workers aimed at hiring U.S. citizens and legal residents to fill jobs that often go to undocumented farm workers. The effort spotlights the immigrant labor issue and underscores the need for reforms without which the domestic agricultural industry could be crippled, leading to more jobs moving off shore.
As part of the movement, the campaign is sending a letter to U.S. lawmakers, offering up farm workers who are “ready to welcome citizens and legal residents who wish to replace immigrants in the fields.†The campaign is encouraging Members of Congress to refer their constituents to vacant farm worker positions in locations across the country. All who are interested or unemployed and are legal residents or U.S. citizens are encouraged to apply.”
It’s time people who keep talking all this shit about undocumented individuals taking American jobs and all that B.S. put their money where their mouth is. Let’s see how they hold working in the same conditions farm workers live with on a daily basis.
i would also recommend unloading docks. I am not talking about the long shore time docks. Produce and meats industry, where you wake up in the morning to working inside a freezer all day.
I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. All of us ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated, but this is not the case.
I know the proponents of this law say that the majority approves of this law, but the majority is not always right. Would women or non-whites have the vote if we listen to the majority of the day, would the non-whites have equal rights (and equal access to churches, housing, restaurants, hotels, retail stores, schools, colleges and yes water fountains) if we listen to the majority of the day? We all know the answer, a resounding, NO!
As for the undocumented workers, as was attributed to Ronald Reagan “It’s the Economy, Stupidâ€. When the economy is good you say let’s all celebrate “Cinco de Mayo, my brothers†but when the economy is down “it’s all your fault, you damn immigrantâ€. This too will pass, the real problem is the narcos, arms and people smugglers and that’s what the focus should be on.
Today we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics and do what is right, not what is just popular with the majority. Some men comprehend discrimination by never have experiencing it in their lives, but the majority will only understand after it happens to them.
“More Americans Concerned Illegal Immigrants Will Take Their Spot On Couch”
http://www.theonion.com/articles/more-americans-concerned-illegal-immigrants-will-t,17705/