The Harvest of Dignity documentary, aired in 2012 by UNC-TV highlights a film previously released by Edward R. Murrow in 1960, titled Harvest of Shame. Sadly, little has changed concerning the working and living conditions of farm workers in the United States between the 1960’s and today. Employment and housing conditions are deplorable, and what is tolerated in the agricultural sector would not be acceptable in other areas (Campbell). Agriculture provides 22% of North Carolina’s state income. Ninety-five to ninety-eight percent of workers in this industry are Latino (Campbell). Many workers travel to NC under the conditions of a temporary work visa, but some do not have that luxury. Employers of these individuals take advantage of the legislation in their area- or lack thereof. They allow limited access to restroom facilities and water for their employees while they are working (Campbell). This neglect results in injury and sometimes death of the workers in the fields. The lack …show more content…
The concept of minimum wage seems non-existent, as workers are forced to pick nearly two tons of sweet potatoes to earn $50 (Campbell). Workers are in the fields from 6am to 7 or 8pm, and overtime entitlement does not apply. In North Carolina, workers earn 35% less than the national average earned by a farm worker. What’s likely most shocking to viewers today is that child labor laws to not necessarily apply to work in the agricultural sector. Children are able to work beginning at 10 years old for up to 30 hours a week (Campbell). Their manual labor is no doubt more difficult than many part-time jobs taken by teenagers in American society. It is also inevitable that this labor will negatively impact their performance in school, essentially eliminating their opportunity for social mobility. Despite this sacrifice, they are often required to work in order to help their family survive
Not least, the farmworker struggle showed the Mexican American community that it was possible to stand up against injustice and dare to win,” (Montoya and Stavans 63). With a history filled with labor abuse and being taken advantage of, this Mexican and Mexican American community is finally
Kelley explains, “We have...two million children under the age of sixteen years who are earning their bread”. By her use of statistics, she has grabbed the audience’s attention. With large numbers like two million, one already begins to question child labor. Kelley then goes on to
What was the most eye opening about this was she didn’t consider what she did as a child as child labor because throughout her family and the town she lived in children working was seen as a norm. If anything she said this was something that benefited her. She was able to learn skills and basic household duties that put her ahead of everyone else. She thought this make her more responsible and disciplined. The most important factor was when finding a job as she got older it was easier to find one and the work wasn’t as difficult as what she experienced as a child.
After the farmworkers movement in the 1960’s that ended with the growers finally sign the union contracts, which granted the workers better pay, life benefits, and protection. However, this is not what really happened the farmworkers were still treated badly, had unfair wages, bad living and working conditions, and did not even had their basic human rights. Farmworkers were treated like slaves, “The compound was fenced with barbed wire and patrolled by bosses on all-terrain vehicles. If the couple got beyond the gates, local police could arrest them and bring them back”( Marosi). The farmworkers issues weren’t only unfair wages or immigration problem, it was more than that it was a human rights issue.
High youth unemployment is not as bad as most think it is. When teens aren’t working in the summer they are in the classrooms learning. In Derek Thompson’s essay, “Teenagers Have Stopped Getting Summer Jobs --- Why?” ,he talks about how teens are in the classrooms rather than getting jobs. Thompson supports his claim that students are staying in school instead of getting jobs by asking rhetorical questions and using logos by showing graphs and other statistics. In the first half of his essay Thompson presents his claim that teens aren’t working as much, not because they are lazy but because they are taking more summer classes.
There are a lot of unclear things about this article which makes it almost look like something people would not read because they already feel like they know these things. He is very unclear about a lot of things which have been mentioned in this article like in developing countries half of the teenagers work but do not necessarily work so they learn a skill they can master any time they want. His article includes a lot exaggeration and contradiction. There is no clear vision of how the writer wants teenagers to act their age instead of just pushing it too hard for them to see how working as a teenager is a horrible thing to do and how it can affect teenagers and give bad results. Teenage employment has become one of the biggest reasons to why teenagers drop out of high schools and develop a different kind of habits.
Ben Sasse’s Op-Ed (EPL) Today, youth unemployment during the summer is an issue that is very common in the United States. Teens no longer have to face drastic amounts of hard, exhausting manual labor. Common factors that interfere with a child’s work and limit their experiences consist of parenting time, innovations in technology/machinery, and the media.
They plant seedlings, weed tobacco fields and work among tall tobacco plants” (Becker 2). This sounds exactly like the conditions in cotton plantations that African American slaves had to endure earlier in history. It is perfectly legal to work those strenuous hours if there is a parent’s consent. Why would anyone want that for their child? Parents should be wanting their children to enjoy their youth while it lasts, as well as ensure that they obtain a proper education.
Critical Race Lens on “McFarland USA” The critical race theory examines how racism affects the society, law, social structure and economy of a state. It is based on five basic tenets: everyday racism, interest convergence, social construction of race, differential racialization, intersectionality, and voice of color. The movie “McFarland USA”, directed by Niki Caro, is a true-story that is primarily based on a poor Mexican community in California where Coach White, a white American coach, develops a cross-country team.
The Grapes of Wrath details an era of American History where many citizens were unemployed as a result of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl that occurred during the same decade. The combination of these issues led many families–a large portion of those from the southern Midwest–to migrate to California, where they were forced to work for extremely low wages in order to provide for their families. After many years, America made it through the challenging economic and social times of the 30’s and 40’s, but problems surrounding low wages and income never completely vanished. In 2015, many low-income workers went on strike to protest the minimum wage, on which they were trying to survive (Horovitz 1). These workers included those from McDonald’s,
Dr. Seth Holmes, who is an Assistant Professor of Public Health and Medical Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, was witness to the lives of a group of indigenous migrant farmworkers from the Triqui village of San Miguel in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. Through participant observation as well as interviews with clinic staff, public health officials, farm employees, U.S. border agents, and residents of the farming areas, he paints a detailed picture of the true cost of fresh fruits and vegetables in this country. In Holmes’ account, by using the stories of real people, we learn that Triqui farmworkers deal with backbreaking work, racism, language barriers (most Triqui farmworkers understand little English or Spanish), and
He was a grape farmer working from 6 am to 7 pm almost more than 13-hours a day his salary was $2.56 an hour from that salary he had to support his family that was still living in Yemen. Many migrant farm workers who pick these fruits travel across the country and cross borders to fill the agriculture jobs in the U.S that U.S citizens are not willing to take. (McKenzie, 2015). Agriculture jobs is not an easy job, but these migrant farmworkers are willing to fill these physical exhausting jobs because of the economic hardship, and the lack of jobs in the there country, therefore, courtiers that have these immigrant farmworkers should recognize immigrants for their hard work.
Child Labor Laws “Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.” This quote by Grace Abbott explains why we need to stand up against child labor. Although many people think that children these days need to work more and have life handed to them, this was not always the case. Children during the industrial revolution were being forced to work long hours in terrible conditions with little to no pay.
But not all work done by children should be accepted as child labor. In other words, if a work doesn’t harm child’s health or personal development (educational issues), it is generally accepted as something positive and useful. Such activities develop children’s skills, provide experience and formulate them to be part of society. The term “Child Labor” is when children do work that damages their health or hamper mental or physical
The film constantly explained that the grocery stores, like many other business is a supply chain, with the majority of power at the top (in this case the large grocery store chains). Many Americans don’t realize that they we are all connected in this problem and that when we buy fruits and vegetables from grocery chains, we are unknowingly forcing farmers to continue to endure mistreatment, abuse, and almost slavery conditions in terms of pay. The film explained how farm labor has a deep past rooted in exploitation, but the cycle needs to stop. I fully support the actions of the workers, and through their hunger strike and other means of putting pressure on the grocery chains to pay them