Hello everyone,
On Sunday, as planned, there was a protest held in front of the Federal Building in San Diego to bring to light the indifference the local "relief" agencies had shown to the migrant workers in San Diego County during the recent fires, and how they had been harassed at the same time by the police and the Border Patrol.
You saw it on TV, right? No? Well, I'm not surprised.
As far as I know, the only news people that came out were from Univision, Channel 17. There may have been a report on TV, but I didn't see a mention on the website. My Spanish is lousy, so maybe you can find a mention:
http://www.univision17.com/
Anyway, I'm sure the FBI got some good pictures.
So, here are some of the "highlights" of what I learned about the fire response as it related to the migrants, from Enrique Morones of the Border Angels, and the other speakers.
- While the fires burned, there were still crops to pick. Did the growers let the workers, many of whom live in camps in the canyons without the benefit of electricity, radio or TV, know that there was a severe fire danger, the air was unsafe, and that strenuous activity (such as manual farm labor) was not recommended? What do you think? No, the workers were told to work on.
- Many migrant families did know that they were in danger, and that they should evacuate. However, they also feared (and rightly so) that there would be checkpoints on the roads, and if they went out, they would be stopped. Many of these families are of mixed citizenship: the parents were born in Mexico or Guatemala, but their children were born here, and are U.S. citzens. How would you like to have to choose between risking having your family broken apart or potentially perishing together in a fire?
- The children of these families were often exposed to toxic levels of smoke for days on end. There is precious little in the way of health care for the encamped migrant workers (there used to be a mobile infirmary that went out to them, but the Minutemen threatened the operator, so that's no longer happening). Those children may have suffered severe and lifelong pulmonary disease.
I could go on, but you get the picture. Let me focus on the "bright side" for a moment.
- It was good to see that a lot of young people from UCSD, USD, and SDSU (the local universities) showed up to help. Sometimes, it seems like the activists in this town are all over 50, and that when they're gone, there will be no one who will care. It's heartening to know it isn't so. The movement may be small now, but it's growing.
- The labor unions in this town are stepping up. They know that the organized labor movement will not survive unless it goes back to its roots, that is, the fight for the rights and protection of all workers.
Anyway, if you'd like to help, you can do so by donating to the Border Angels. The fires may be nearly contained, but the needs of this, the poorest community, will go on for a long time.
If you can, please try to help the Border Angels:
http://www.borderangels.org
UPDATE: I want to say thank you to Nightprowlkitty, for reminding me of something I forgot to mention. When I hear FEMA hacks talk about comparing the fires to Katrina it makes my skin crawl. You cannot compare these wildfires we all knew were coming, and exactly where they were going to hit, to a hurricane borne flood that could have hit anywhere over a 1000 mile stretch of coastline. What is comparable is the horrendous way that the poorest people were treated by those whose job it is to help.