space Imagine yourself in the cool environment of a produce stoor on a warm day of summer. Your mouth anticipates the reception of the ripe, vibrant bounty of fruits and vegetables before you. The berries are dark with juices that wait to burst from their captivity once your teeth penetrate the skin. The peaches, swollen with sweetness, are supple under the gentle pressure of your fingers. You gather rich green, orange, and yellow vegetables with which you will prepare a feast that will pleasure your palate and nourish your body.
space While you peruse the perfect mounds of produce, at no time does the farm from which it came enter your mind. Never do you think about the hands that picked the fruits and vegetables you are about to enjoy with your friends and family. Not once do you envision the person connected to the hands and the work they have endured in order for you to take pleasure in that which has laden your plastic hand-held shopping cart.
space I can make such assertions with confindence bcause I speak from experience. Until a recent visit to a farm workers labor union in Woodburn, Oregon I was oblivious to the mass of injustices that create a migrant farmworkes reality. Actually, oblivious is not the correct word. Somewhere in the recesses of my suppressed knowledge I was aware of the unfair treatment of migrant farmworkers, but it was easier not to think about such things in my day-to-day life. What I have learned recently though, is "unfair treatment" doesn't begin to portray the life of a migrant farmworker, and that by ignoring such issues we condone these practices.
space One the next few pages, we will be looking into the life of the migrant farmworker. Who he is, where he came from, where he lives, what he earns, and the health problems associated with his profession. In addition we will look at current legislation attmepting to weaken the few rights he has, as well as what we can do as consumers to put an end to such inhumane treatment.
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