That's a saying among the United Farm Workers, and this summer it is more fitting then ever. Yesterday we mourned, Today we act, Tomorrow we will gain justice.
Since May, six farm workers in California have died from what appears to be heat-related causes. This brings to 15 the number of farm workers whose death have been investigated as heat-related since Governor Schwarzenegger took office.
A motto of the United Farm Workers is Si, Se Puede!, which the Barack Obama campaign has borrowed in its anglo version as "Yes, we can!"
Senator Barack Obama adopted the English version "Yes, we can!" first during the 2004 Illinois Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate, and it has become a mantra of his 2008 presidential campaign.
Wikipedia: Sí se puede
Come around after the fold and I'll show you how we can work together to save lives in California. Si, Se Puede! Yes, we can!
I have a story to tell and it takes a while here to tell it. Please be patient. And I'm going to ask for something at the end also.
Please donate $39 to send one farm worker to Sacramento on Monday.
The United Farm Workers hope to bus 800 farmworkers to Sacramento, the capital of California, Monday to help pass a Secret Ballot rule for union elections. As important as this bill would be normally toward growing the union, it takes on even more significance after the heat deaths of this summer. It literally may be a matter of life or death for some.
Please spend some of your Saturday afternoon with with me, and read the rest.
The more literal translation of "Si Se Puede" that the United Farm Workers uses is "Yes, It can be done!" When Barack Obama adopted that slogan in 2004, he didn't pick it just because it was a catchy phrase. There's a history to it and I'm sure Barack Obama knew it:
The UFW, founded in 1962 by Cesar E. Chavez and Dolores Huerta, and often described as the conscience of the labor movement for its inspiring fight for low-wage working families, is the first successful farm labor union in the history of the United States. Throughout its 40 years history, the UFW has worked to organize farm workers, raise wages and improve working conditions for its member and all farm workers.
United Farm Workers Endorse Barack Obama
United Farm Workers spokesman Marc Grossman claims union leader Cesar Chavez coined the phrase in 1972 while lying in a Phoenix motel room where he was fasting in protest.
After hearing one report after another from organizers and supporters who said, "No, no se puede" ("No, no it can't be done"), Chavez replied, "Si, si se puede" ("Yes, yes it can be done").
'Yes we can' trace Barack Obama slogan to Cesar Chavez
Barack Obama recognizes the justice of the long struggle of the farmworkers. In March, he endorsed a legal holiday for Cesar Chavez, and spoke eloquently of that stuggle that Cesar Chavez embodied:
"Chavez left a legacy as an educator, environmentalist, and a civil rights leader. And his cause lives on. As farmworkers and laborers across America continue to struggle for fair treatment and fair wages, we find strength in what Cesar Chavez accomplished so many years ago. And we should honor him for what he's taught us about making America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation.
Senator Barack Obama March 31, 2008.
So why all this about "Yes, we can" and Barack Obama in my diary?
Well, many people have adopted that saying, use it often, and support Senator Obama strongly, but they may not understand that saying in the way that Senator Obama originally intended it to be understood. It's a saying that can be lived.
Barack Obama started his adult work life as a community organizer in Chicago, working with poor folks, trying to make change. It's the same basic project that Cesar Chavez worked on and the UFW works on still today: justice, fairness and decency for workers, justice for all.
In 1985, [Obama] moved to Chicago to work with local churches organizing job training and other programs for poor and working-class residents of Altgeld Gardens, a public housing project where 5,300 African-Americans tried to survive amid shuttered steel mills, a nearby landfill, a putrid sewage treatment plant, and a pervasive feeling that the white establishment of Chicago would never give them a fair shake.
On the Streets of Chicago, a Candidate Comes of Age
Obama didn't give up and look where he is today. "Yes, we can" and "yes, it can be done" can mean that same as "Yesterday we mourned, Today we act, Tomorrow we will gain justice." They can mean the same as "hope." They mean that no matter how bad it is, keep fighting, because there can be a better day. We can make a better day.
Let me tell you a story about some people who also will not give up: the United Farm Workers. This has been a dark, painful summer for farm workers in California.
First we mourn.
In May, 17 year old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died from the heat while working in the fields.
I just spoke at the funeral of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. Maria was working in a grape vineyard outside Stockton during the 1st heat wave of this year. She became ill due to the heat as the farm labor contractor and grower she worked for, like many others, did not provide the protections required by law.
The death of this young pregnant girl is hard to accept because it did not need to happen.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President of UFW, quoted in "How much is the life of a farm worker worth? Is it less than the life of any other human being?"
In honor of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, the march from Lodi, CA to Sacramento State Capitol, June 4, 2008:
The State of California fined the labor contractor heavily, $262,700, but deaths have continued since then.
Atwater-based Merced Farm Labor, the contractor investigated in the death of Lodi teen Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez last spring, was fined $262,700 by the state [in July] for failure to follow heat illness prevention regulations at the time Jimenez was stricken.
Jimenez, a 17-year-old pregnant farm laborer, collapsed May 14 in a Farmington vineyard operated by West Coast Grape Farming and died two days later. Her death from heatstroke was ruled an occupational death by the San Joaquin County coroner.
State fines labor firm over death
Since then, five more farm workers have died from what appears to be heat-related causes.
August 2, 2008: Maria de Jesus Alvarez.
July 31, 2008: Jorge Herrera.
July 9, 2008: Ramiro Carrillo Rodriguez.
July 9, 2008: Abdon Felix Garcia.
June 20, 2008: Jose Macrena Hernandez.
You can learn more details of this continuing tragedy in these diaries. I have been writing about this because I must. We cannot let this continue.
Sixth Farm Worker Dies from the Heat this Summer in California. A Call for Action.
Another Farm Worker dies. Does anyone give a damn? The Netroots Do.
United Farm Workers Calls for Manslaughter Charges Against Company in Death of 17 Year Old
How many Farmworkers must die before someone cares??
Please Tell Fallen Farm Worker's Family We Care
"How much is the life of a farm worker worth? Is it less than the life of any other human being?"
Today we act.
These deaths make it clear the state cannot protect farm workers. But we can make a difference and it will not take much. Yes, it can be done! Yes, we can!! Si, Se Puede!!
Here's how we can make a difference.
This Monday, August 18, more than 800 farm workers from throughout California want to go to Sacramento to lobby the Legislature on a key bill that will help them help themeselves. They want the chance to tell the Governor and their elected officials to support AB 2386, "Secret Ballot Elections for Farmworkers," which has moved out of the assembly and which will be voted on that afternoon in the state senate.
This legislation protects farm workers' right to a secret ballot election and will make it easier for farm workers to organize and enforce the laws that the state cannot enforce.
Margarita Hernandez, a grape worker, knows that that there must be changes in the workplace:
The reason for me to go to Sacramento is because I want changes in the working conditions at my job and the other companies. In the place where I work, Sun Pacific, we don't have shade and the drinking water is without ice until 9 am—though they know that by that hour it is already hot.
There have been people have felt sick from the heat and the company people always ask if they feel bad because of something they ate...
I feel there is no respect for the farm worker, even though many farm workers have died. The companies don't change their treatment towards the farm workers. That is why I am going to Sacramento. I have the hope that one day, we will be treated better.
Just to rent the buses and vans needed, will cost $26,570 and that does not cover the food and other supplies needed.
The UFW hopes that internet supporters would contribute $5,510 towards this expense. This will cover the transportation costs of 140 workers at $39.36 per worker. Let's show them that Daily Kos and the netroots can do it!
Can you make sure Margarita and others get seats on the bus?
$39.36
Please donate $39 to send one farm worker to Sacramento on Monday.
Even $10 will help. The UFW's goal is $5510 or 140 workers from internet supporters. So far, many good people have donated over $4000 yesterday and today. If you look at the buses on the donation page, the "red" is up to about 100 workers. Thanks so much to everyone who has done this so far. (UFW sent out emails to their internet supporters, many of whom donated and some money has come from readers of my diary (cross posted everywhere) yesterday.
We're very close to 140 workers! Yes, we can!! Please help make Barack Obama's slogan real in our lives. This is what it's about.
Please help.
Please TAKE ACTION TODAY and ask California legislatures to support this vital bill.
If you can't attend please make a donation to help the United Farm Workers rent 14 buses, additional vans, plus pay for food and other supplies which will cost in excess of $31,770 for the day.
Tomorrow we will gain justice.
When the union is strong, growers and labor contractors follow the California heat regualtions, and lives can be saved. This bill is key to growing the union and, literally, saving lives.
Where farm workers are protected by union contracts, the laws are honored.
And when growers know it is easier for farm workers to organize and bring in the union, employers are much more careful about obeying the law because they don’t want to give the union an advantage.
So the answer, sisters and brothers, is self-help—making it easier for farm workers to organize so the laws on the books are the laws in the fields. Then more important human beings like Maria Isabel won’t have to die.
Remarks by Arturo S. Rodriguez, President, United Farm Workers of America, Honoring Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, June 4, 2008
Please TAKE ACTION TODAY and ask California legislatures to support this vital bill.
If you can't attend please make a donation to help the United Farm Workers rent 14 buses, additional vans, plus pay for food and other supplies which will cost in excess of $31,770 for the day. $39.36 per worker. Si, Se Puede!
Yesterday we mourned,
Today we act,
Tomorrow we will gain justice.
Si, Se Puede!