Slavery Still Exists!!

An organization that has made efforts for farm worker rights is the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) in Florida. Their efforts include building strength “as a community on a basis of reflection and analysis, constant attention to coalition-building across ethnic divisions, and an ongoing investment in leadership development to help our members continually develop their skills in community education and organization” (CIW). CIW have made a difference through various campaigns, including the Anti-Slavery Campaign, and their Campaigns for Fair Food, which has included boycotts of major fast-food corporations, such as Taco Bell and McDonalds. Their efforts of organizing and campaigning have raised public awareness of the exploitation and injustice of farm workers in the United States. 

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/slow_food/blog_post/help_end_modern_day_slavery/

The story of the Immokalee Workers in Immokalee, Florida only brushes the surface of the modern-day slavery that exists in the agricultural industry. In 2008, one of the largest slavery prosecutions was brought to the public's attention in Southwest Florida. Mexican and Guatemalan workers were found to have been held in involuntary servitude, where they did not receive money for their work and were beaten if they tried to leave. The Coalition of Immokalee workers has brought attention to modern-day slavery through their Anti-Slavery campaign. As an organization of Latino, Mayan Indian and Haitian immigrants, the Coalition of Immokalee workers "helps to fight this crime by uncovering, investigating and assisting in the federal slavery rings preying on hundreds of farmworkers" (CIW). 


Why should you care about Immokalee Workers? If you care about the lives of people, you should care about people who are enslaved. Most people do not know about the lives of migrant workers and their experiences and even more, people are not aware that slavery still exists today. In order to address the various problems migrant farmworkers face, we need to end slavery in the United States. Problems of forced labor without pay and inhumane living and work conditions should be enough reasons to create the change that is desperately needed for farmworkers. Systems of oppression, including Patriarchy and Capitalism need to be dismantled in order to address these problems since they are the root of the inequality and injustice that exists today. They allow slavery to continue. 




To hear the story of the Immokalee Workers in their own words watch this video.