1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: Hello, Latino USA listeners. 2 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 2: This is Julio Rica Lorella, editorial director, and today we're 3 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:08,680 Speaker 2: going to feature an episode of another futuro media podcast 4 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 2: that Latino USA anchor Marie Nojosa co host with me. 5 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 2: It's called In the Thick and it's a podcast about politics, 6 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,479 Speaker 2: race and culture from a POC perspective. And in this 7 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 2: episode that you're about to hear, which is called America's 8 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 2: farm Workers, Maria and I are joined by two amazing guests, 9 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 2: Norma Flores Lopez who's the chief programs officer at Justice 10 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 2: for Migrant Women, and Rena Lopez no relation, executive director 11 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 2: of Oregon's largest farm worker union. So in this episode, 12 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 2: Norma Andrina share more about how the record heat waves 13 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 2: are affecting farm workers, how the history of farming is 14 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 2: rooted in slavery, and what is needed to provide protection 15 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 2: as well as a pathway to citizenship for farm workers. 16 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 2: So we hope you enjoyed this episode and don't forget 17 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 2: to subscribe to In the Thick wherever you get your podcasts. 18 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: Thanks and then trying. 19 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 3: So hard to be able to help put food on 20 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 3: the table, to be able to make ends me and 21 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 3: that's the great irony is that they're struggling to eat 22 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 3: those people that feed us. 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 4: Hey, family, welcome to In the Thick. This is a 24 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 4: podcast about politics, race, and culture from a POC perspective. 25 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 4: I'm Maria no. 26 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:28,480 Speaker 1: Josa and I'm Juliorela. 27 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 4: Joining us from Washington, DC is Norma Flores Lopez. She's 28 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 4: Chief Programs Officer at Justice for Migrant Women. Hey, Norima, 29 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 4: welcome to the show. 30 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 3: Hi, thank you for having me. 31 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,680 Speaker 4: Great and joining us from Woodburn, Oregon is Reina Lopez. 32 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 4: Literally on the other side of the country. Rena is 33 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 4: executive director of Pineros Igampesinos Unidos del Picun, which is 34 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 4: Oregon's largest farmworker union. Hey, Reina, welcome. 35 00:01:57,680 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: To the shows. 36 00:01:58,800 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 5: Thanks for having me. 37 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: Love it. 38 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 4: And before we get to the conversation, just a reminder 39 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 4: we are still recording remotely, so if there's any strange noises, 40 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 4: that's what it's all about. Yeah, I'm really really thrilled 41 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 4: that the both of you are joining us. Such an 42 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 4: important conversation that we're going to be having today about 43 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 4: the nation's roughly two point four million farm workers. You know, 44 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,639 Speaker 4: there are posters and signs and flags and commercials that 45 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 4: love the essential workers. Right. The majority of these particular workers, 46 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 4: the farm workers, are Latino and Latina immigrants, and you know, 47 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 4: everybody knows that we would not have had food on 48 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 4: our tables had it not been for them. We also 49 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 4: know that about a third of farm workers live below 50 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 4: the poverty line, which makes no sense, right because they 51 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 4: are feeding us. We do know, Oh my god, the 52 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 4: work conditions, we can talk about that. It's pretty extraordinary, 53 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 4: total physical, mental health challenges all the time every day. 54 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 4: And as we know, the COVID nineteen pandemic only intensified 55 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 4: a lot of these inequities. So really, I love these communities. 56 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 4: I love spending time in these communities, and I just 57 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 4: want to say, before anything, thank you for the work 58 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 4: that you do on behalf of the people who do 59 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 4: this work in the farms and delivering our food. So 60 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 4: I just want to check in with you personally, like 61 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 4: how are you doing? Because you are there working and 62 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,119 Speaker 4: advocating for the farm workers. Come with dant like what's 63 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 4: your temperature? Check in normally let's start with you almost us. 64 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 3: I'm doing well, a lot to be grateful for. I 65 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 3: think that the pandemic really allowed folks to be able 66 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 3: to reassess what's really important and what matters out here, 67 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 3: and this work that I get to do, I feel 68 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 3: very privileged to be able to do it. I had 69 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 3: my opportunity of growing up and working in the fields, 70 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 3: and I know what hard work it is, and I 71 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 3: know how blessed I am to be able to now. 72 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 3: You know, work from home is something that wouldn't have 73 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 3: been possible before when I was working at in the field. 74 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 3: To be able to be in air conditioning, to have 75 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 3: a clean glass of water, those are all things that 76 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 3: I'm very grateful for. But you know, with this pandemic, 77 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 3: we what it also meant for our communities and why 78 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 3: we need to mobilize, and so we've been working around 79 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 3: the clock and so I'm tired, but a good kind 80 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 3: of tired. I'd rather be this kind of tired than 81 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 3: the sore muscles and the cuts that I used to 82 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 3: have for working in the fields. Right, But extremely grateful 83 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 3: and just really focused on making sure that as we rebuild, 84 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 3: it's going to be a different kind of future for 85 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 3: those farm workers on the fields that we're so grateful for. 86 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 4: Thank you, Norman, especially for bringing gratitude into the conversation. 87 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 4: I think many of the farm workers who I've spoken with, 88 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 4: this is part of their lives right, grateful for the 89 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:35,040 Speaker 4: land that gives us this bounty. 90 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 5: I think that for me, I'm full of this bit 91 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 5: on sign, full of hope, and every single day when 92 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 5: I'm talking to my organizers are members, I'm just feeling 93 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:50,360 Speaker 5: like we need to hold the vision, eyes on the 94 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 5: prize and really trying to just stay focused, honestly, because 95 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,480 Speaker 5: there is a lot going on in the world that 96 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 5: can make us feel down about where we're at, but 97 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 5: we're ready to just keep moving, keep moving forward, La 98 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:06,920 Speaker 5: lucha SiGe. As we say in the movement, hell yes. 99 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, hell yes, as Maria no Josa. 100 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 2: But speaking of what we've been going through, and thank 101 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 2: you both for sharing sort of that temperature check because 102 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 2: it's really important. So sort of frame where we want 103 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 2: to go with this conversation. Because this summer United States 104 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:27,719 Speaker 2: has already experienced record shattering heat right and unprecedented wildfires. 105 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 2: Farm workers are twenty times more at risk from heat 106 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 2: stroke than other workers, and that's according to the Centers 107 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 2: for Disease Control the CDC, and because of climate change, 108 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 2: the average number of days that farm workers need to 109 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,160 Speaker 2: work in unsafe temperatures every year will only continue to increase. 110 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 2: So On June twenty sixth a thirty eight year old 111 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:58,599 Speaker 2: migrant farm worker named Sebastian Francisco Perez died after working 112 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 2: for hours at a farm in Oregon in temperatures that 113 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 2: reached over one hundred degrees. Two weeks later, Oregon Governor 114 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,799 Speaker 2: Kate Brown implemented emergency heat standards to better protect workers 115 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 2: in the state. However, there are still no federal protections 116 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 2: from heat exposure in the workplace. 117 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:18,360 Speaker 4: What the hell? What the hell? 118 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 2: I know? And advocates are calling on OSHA, which is 119 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 2: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency to 120 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 2: establish federal heat standards. Reina, you have been on the 121 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 2: ground in Oregon. I would love for you to share 122 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 2: sort of what happened during that time and you can 123 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 2: talk about the impact of the climate crisis on farm 124 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 2: workers right now. 125 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:41,040 Speaker 1: What can you tell. 126 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 5: Us, Well, first, let me tell you just a little 127 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 5: bit about sebas Stan Francisco Betis. He was thirty eight 128 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 5: years old. He was working at a tree farm in 129 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,040 Speaker 5: Saint Paul, Oregon, in Marion County, one of the top 130 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 5: agricultural districts in our state, and he came here from Guatemala. 131 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 5: He literally got here on Cinco de Mayo And when 132 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,479 Speaker 5: I was talking to hisprimo, he was telling me that 133 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 5: Sevastian Francisco had so many dreams. He was a very 134 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 5: serious person. Whenever he talked about his family back at home, 135 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 5: he'd talk about how him and his wife wanted to 136 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 5: have a baby, and that she was having a lot 137 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 5: of trouble getting pregnant and he was planning on saving 138 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 5: up money to help them start a family. And unfortunately 139 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 5: that dream never came true. And we've been trying to 140 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 5: really not only humanize the story, but say, hey, we 141 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 5: needed these heat rules yesterday right now. I mean, we 142 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 5: have little faith that the federal government can actually pull 143 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 5: a lot of things off, but we really need to 144 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 5: hold their feet to the fire in every way, shape 145 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 5: and form, and we need to be really clear that 146 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,040 Speaker 5: heat standards need to happen. We need smoke standards as well, 147 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 5: because frankly, here on the West coast, what we're seeing too. 148 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 4: Is wildfires as well. 149 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 5: We have the biggest wildfires in southern Oregon right now, 150 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 5: and last year we had whole communities, communities that were 151 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 5: completely destroyed and we need to demand that our lawmakers 152 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 5: pass policy that actually works for our communities and that 153 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 5: addresses the long term effects of global warming, because we're 154 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 5: kidding ourselves. If anyone believes that we should just be 155 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 5: pretending that nothing's happening and that we should just live 156 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 5: with it, doing that means that millions of people will die, 157 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 5: right And now you know, in Oregon, we really joined 158 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 5: the struggle with our family down in California and Washington. 159 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:33,560 Speaker 5: For months, we've been demanding that, specifically on the local level, 160 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 5: through Oregon OSHA, that they implement emergency rules around fire 161 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 5: and smoke, and we were met with a ton of 162 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 5: resistance until this tragedy happened, the preventable and tragic death 163 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 5: that happened, And what we know right now is that 164 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,079 Speaker 5: on the national level they were paying attention. We did 165 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 5: get some calls from our congressional delegates and our senators 166 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 5: as well, and we are in huge support of the 167 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 5: Diva Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act, named in the 168 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 5: honor of another farm worker that died in two thousand 169 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 5: and four after picking grapes for a ten hour straight 170 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,960 Speaker 5: day one hundred and five degree temperature, and that would 171 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:15,359 Speaker 5: require OSHA on the national level to establish an enforceable 172 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 5: standard to protect workers in high heat environments with measures 173 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,640 Speaker 5: like basic things that we want, right, very basic things. 174 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 5: We're not actually asking for luxuries. We're asking for basic 175 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 5: things like paid breaks in cool spaces, access to cool 176 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 5: and clean water. We want to be limited to the 177 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 5: time exposed in the heat. We want to have a 178 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 5: plan when workers are being exposed to high heat, extreme 179 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:44,080 Speaker 5: weather conditions. We want plans for heat related illness, and 180 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 5: we want people to be trained on the job so 181 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 5: that we know what to do when these problems come 182 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 5: and arise. 183 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 4: And by the way, Rein, I just want to say 184 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 4: thank you for humanizing Sebastian in that way. That's what 185 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 4: we need to realize, is that every single farm worker 186 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 4: who is feeding us has hopes, dreams, want to have 187 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 4: a baby, a house, whatever. So thank you so much 188 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 4: for bringing Sebastan from Whattemala very much alive for us. Right, 189 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 4: it feels like you want the federal government to recognize 190 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 4: these workers as human beings. My goodness, water okay, just 191 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 4: clean water. 192 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 2: Right. And the thing is Creina just aid two thousand 193 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 2: and four, My god, at seventeen years ago. 194 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 4: This country. Yo, this country, So. 195 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 2: Nordma, I mean hearing what Harna said, what would you 196 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 2: like to see done to ensure the well being of 197 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:31,600 Speaker 2: farm workers in light of this climate crisis? 198 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 3: Well, as you mentioned it, it's incredibly frustrating because we 199 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 3: have been in this fight and we have been doing 200 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 3: this work, you know, for decades, and for us, we're 201 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 3: asking for some of the most basic common sense. We 202 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 3: know the science already behind it, we know what it 203 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 3: takes to be able to keep people protected. And it's 204 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 3: infuriating because when you hear the other side about why 205 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 3: it is that these things don't go through, there's not 206 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 3: any real logical, science based reason other than they don't 207 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 3: want any addition regulations or protections out there. And it 208 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 3: goes back to us. Jane I mentioned the need to 209 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 3: be able to humanize and to show people you wouldn't 210 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 3: want to work in these conditions, You wouldn't want your 211 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 3: loved ones to be out there. So why are we 212 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 3: okay with the food that all of us eat every 213 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,199 Speaker 3: single day, how they get to our plates? How are 214 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,280 Speaker 3: we okay with the fact that they're not given some 215 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 3: of these basic rights, Because this is just scratching the 216 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 3: surface about what are some of those basic rights that 217 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 3: farm workers continue to be denied, and it's not even 218 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:33,199 Speaker 3: documented and documented sort of thing. All farm workers are exploited, 219 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 3: all farm workers are treated unequally under the laws. And 220 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:39,680 Speaker 3: going back to the heat issue, I mean, we know 221 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 3: how to be able to prevent some of these debts. 222 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 3: Basic common sense hydration, shade, rest breaks, those basic things 223 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 3: is what we're asking the government to be able to 224 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 3: provide us make sure that the farm workers that are 225 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 3: out there have those basic protections that every other American, 226 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 3: every other worker in this country is able to have. 227 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,840 Speaker 3: The fact that we are still fighting seventeen years later 228 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 3: for this bill and for many of these other basic 229 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 3: protections that we've been asking for decades later, I mean, 230 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,319 Speaker 3: it highlights some of the fundamental problems in this country. 231 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 4: So we do know that the history of farming in 232 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 4: this country has deep rooted ties, yes to slavery and 233 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:22,959 Speaker 4: institutional racism, of course, you know the things that this 234 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:27,079 Speaker 4: country sadly were built on. So in nineteen thirty eight, 235 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 4: the Fair Labor Standards Act in the United States purposely 236 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:35,319 Speaker 4: excluded farm workers from basic labor protections. I remember when 237 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 4: I learned about this and you're just like, wait a second, 238 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:43,000 Speaker 4: you have fair labor standards in nineteen thirty eight, and 239 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 4: then other people are like, yeah, but you don't get them. 240 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,000 Speaker 1: But not for the Mexicans, Not for the Mexicans. 241 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 4: Right, not for the farm workers, not for the Mexican 242 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 4: farm workers and the Filipino farm workers exactly, and the 243 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,320 Speaker 4: black farm workers and Indigenous and Asian farm workers exactly. 244 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 4: So they don't get access to minimum wage or capping 245 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 4: the work week forty hours, or a ban on child labor. No, 246 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 4: that doesn't happen. Some of those exclusions continued to this day. Crazy, 247 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 4: Almost one hundred years later, farm workers still don't receive 248 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 4: overtime pay in a majority of states. In nearly all states, 249 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 4: children as youngest twelve years old can legally work an 250 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 4: unlimited number of hours on any farm, as over half 251 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,079 Speaker 4: a million children do every year. Last month, the Supreme 252 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,960 Speaker 4: Court struck down a California law allowing farm worker unions 253 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 4: access to the work site, making it more difficult to 254 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 4: organize farm workers. Okay, so what's up with that. Gamila 255 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 4: Chavez is executive director of the dorodes Werda Foundation, and 256 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 4: she spoke about the Supreme Court decision on democracy now 257 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:45,079 Speaker 4: in late June, so let's take a listen. 258 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:48,400 Speaker 6: This ruling is a setback for unions for workers' rights. 259 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:52,440 Speaker 6: The idea that organizers who arm property after giving notice 260 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 6: are taking property is ridiculous and clearly a union investing position. 261 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 6: A farm company said that union access allow quote physical 262 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 6: invasion of land without compensation. So we know that when 263 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 6: it comes to workers that live on the labor camps, 264 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 6: they are living on private property. They're then shuttled to 265 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 6: work in company vehicles. Union organizers would have no access 266 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 6: to these workers in this case. 267 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 4: So, Norma, you actually worked in the fields as a child, 268 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 4: and some of my students same thing that I would 269 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 4: hear stories waking up at two three in the morning, 270 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 4: car lights headlights on so that they could pick asparagus 271 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:40,560 Speaker 4: for three to four hours before they went to school. Wow, 272 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:44,040 Speaker 4: and did this as a family. But we all need 273 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 4: to be seeing more protection for farm workers. I mean, 274 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 4: should there even be child farm workers? So what do 275 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 4: you think, Norma from your kind of professional and personal 276 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:55,360 Speaker 4: experience on this. 277 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 3: As you mentioned, I grew up as a migrant farm worker. 278 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 3: My family and I would pack up our belongings at 279 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 3: the beginning every summer from South Texas and would make 280 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:10,080 Speaker 3: the drive up north to the states like you know, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, 281 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:12,720 Speaker 3: Colorado to go work and harvest and all kinds of 282 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,640 Speaker 3: fruits and vegetables, so much so that I had a 283 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:17,920 Speaker 3: strong dislike for certain vegetables that I had to pick 284 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 3: out there, like asparagus. I couldn't see it for years. 285 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 3: I was just not a fan because they're just having 286 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 3: to do that backbreaking work as a young child, like 287 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 3: many farm workers, I started around the age of nine, 288 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:32,440 Speaker 3: as started like with plate, you know, having to be 289 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 3: out there with my parents who didn't have anybody to 290 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 3: watch me, and making sure that they could keep an 291 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 3: eye on me while I picked some of the low 292 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 3: hanging fruit or some of the fruit that fell on 293 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 3: the ground. And it was more like a game at 294 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 3: that point. And then I started working legally at the 295 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 3: age of twelve, which is when it's the federal law 296 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 3: allows for me to be able to sign up and 297 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 3: work a full time job during the summer. And this 298 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:55,960 Speaker 3: is in a nine to five you know, five days 299 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 3: a week, you know, fun summer job. It was backbreaking 300 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:03,560 Speaker 3: work of ten to twelve hour days of doing intense 301 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 3: labor and intense weather conditions like the ones you were 302 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 3: describing of over one hundred degrees outside and having to 303 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 3: detassel corn or having to be able to harvest onions. 304 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 3: And so that was what I did alongside my parents 305 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 3: out of necessity, not because it was any vocational training, 306 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 3: not because I had a future in farming. And there 307 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 3: were times where I had to work alongside some of 308 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 3: the local kids that grew up in those agricultural communities, 309 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 3: those kids that were white, And the treatment that I 310 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 3: would see between those kids and myself as a child 311 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 3: was night and day. I would get yelled at, insulted, 312 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,360 Speaker 3: called all kinds of names while I was working out 313 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 3: there in the fields, demanded to go faster and harder, 314 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 3: and while the other kids were literally having a very 315 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 3: different summer experience. It's hard to yell at them and 316 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 3: to insult them when you're going to go to church 317 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 3: on Sunday with their parents. 318 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 4: WHOA can I ask you something? 319 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 3: Yeah? 320 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 4: Nor can you tell me? What would they say? Because 321 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 4: I'm still kind of stuck with Like, So, Norma is 322 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 4: twelve years old and now she is being talked to 323 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 4: by a boss. She has a boss. At twelve years old, 324 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:09,080 Speaker 4: and she's being yelled at by that boss. So what 325 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:11,920 Speaker 4: were you hearing as a little kid working? What were 326 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 4: the things that they were saying to you and not 327 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 4: to the white kids. 328 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:17,880 Speaker 3: What they would tell me would be, what the fuck 329 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:20,520 Speaker 3: are you doing? Why are you wasting time? We need 330 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:24,080 Speaker 3: to go faster. Quit talking. You can't even do this. 331 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:26,960 Speaker 3: What good are you? What are you going to even 332 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:28,800 Speaker 3: be in the future. If you can't even fucking manage 333 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 3: to do this sort of work, you're worthless. I mean 334 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,199 Speaker 3: those were literally words that would tear at me, and 335 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,160 Speaker 3: my mother, who spoke no English, would be standing there 336 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 3: staring at me and be like, what's happening, Norma? And 337 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 3: I would be like, nothing, Mom, I missed a thing. 338 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:47,439 Speaker 3: He's just telling me it's fine. I would absorb so 339 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 3: much of it. Even at that age. I knew what 340 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 3: was happening to me was wrong, but I also knew 341 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,679 Speaker 3: how much my parents depended on those wages, and so 342 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 3: I would just sit there and take it and tell 343 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:59,399 Speaker 3: my mom, it's fine, Mom. He's not saying anything to me, 344 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 3: because I also knew that that farm was paying my 345 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,000 Speaker 3: parents better, that that farm was not stealing their wages 346 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 3: like the ones that we had been at before, and 347 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 3: so I would just take it, and it was a 348 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:11,880 Speaker 3: full summer of just that sort of mistreatment and abuse, 349 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 3: and in my head I would think, like, this isn't 350 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,880 Speaker 3: who I am. I'm actually a very smart student. I'm 351 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:20,440 Speaker 3: actually not dumb. I get the highest grades in classroom. 352 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:22,880 Speaker 3: But to them out in those fields, I was seeing 353 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 3: as nothing, as a worthless employee that was brown, that 354 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,359 Speaker 3: was going to be a nothing to them, And it 355 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 3: was a lot to Abdorbit twelve. 356 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:34,680 Speaker 4: Seriously, damn, oh my god, Norma. You know what, thank 357 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 4: you so much for painting that picture for us, because 358 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 4: that picture, as you know, is happening right this very 359 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 4: moment all the time as we speak recording this, we 360 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 4: know that that is being repeated everywhere across our country, 361 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,959 Speaker 4: right absolutely, So thank you for allowing us to understand. 362 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:56,359 Speaker 4: And so I was itchingday you. 363 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:57,000 Speaker 2: No. 364 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:04,960 Speaker 3: I will take that. I will take all of that 365 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 3: and absorb all that energy. But there's so many kids 366 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 3: that are out there that don't have cheerleaders to remind 367 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 3: them of that they can't do well. And so what 368 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:15,639 Speaker 3: you end up seeing is kids that are working in 369 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:18,160 Speaker 3: the fields that drop out at four times the national 370 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 3: average don't finish their school and are trapped in this 371 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 3: generational cycle of poverty of having to go work in 372 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 3: those fields and doing their best. I mean, every child 373 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 3: that's out there is because their parents need that money 374 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,359 Speaker 3: and they know that, and they're trying so hard to 375 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,680 Speaker 3: be able to help put food on the table, to 376 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:36,880 Speaker 3: be able to make ends meat. And that's the great irony, 377 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,880 Speaker 3: is that they're struggling to eat those people that feed us. 378 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:41,920 Speaker 3: And so what we're trained to be able to do 379 00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 3: is to say, equalize the child labor laws the same 380 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,280 Speaker 3: way that we protect every other child working in every 381 00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:51,600 Speaker 3: other industry, making sure that they're doing safe jobs that 382 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:53,879 Speaker 3: aren't going to cost in their lives. Because our culture 383 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,360 Speaker 3: is one of the deadliest, it is the deadliest industry 384 00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 3: for children to be working in. We are trying to 385 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:01,399 Speaker 3: be able to keep these kids from having to choose 386 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 3: their education or beating their families at such young ages. 387 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 3: We want them to complete school. So what we're asking 388 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:11,199 Speaker 3: is equality in the child labor laws. Don't allow for 389 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 3: these kids to be so young doing such dangerous work 390 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:16,959 Speaker 3: that we have the science that shows how dangerous it is, 391 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,400 Speaker 3: the data that proves that, and to be able to 392 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 3: make sure we're protecting those kids. 393 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 4: Yeah, this one piece of data. Every day, approximately thirty 394 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 4: eight farm worker children are injured in the US and 395 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:31,719 Speaker 4: that's from children in the fields on Twitter CIF campaign. So, Rena, 396 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 4: you're an organ I mean, what do you want to 397 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 4: see in terms of better protection for farm workers and 398 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 4: their families and this conversation of child labor. 399 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,880 Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I totally agree with Norma, and I 400 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 5: agree also that you're a chin going out badass and 401 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 5: all of the things. And I really want to also 402 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 5: point out how systems of oppression and racialized cast systems 403 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,360 Speaker 5: really are at play here. And this is also why 404 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,360 Speaker 5: I think that black and brown unit in this conversation 405 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 5: in this time is so crucial, because we have a 406 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 5: common thread here. And the reason why we see these 407 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,840 Speaker 5: kinds of statistics, the reason why we know that the 408 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 5: average life expectancy of a migrant farm workers forty nine 409 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 5: years of age, why we see so many miscarriages in 410 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,639 Speaker 5: our communities, why we see all of these quality of 411 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 5: life standards just being at the bottom of the barrel, 412 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:26,679 Speaker 5: is because we're living in a system that has really 413 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:30,560 Speaker 5: taken on into the legacy of what slavery did, and 414 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 5: a lot of these New Deal era reforms that were 415 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,960 Speaker 5: supposed to be monumental labor standards for the United States, 416 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 5: the legacy of Jim Crow laws and slavery was institutionalized 417 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 5: in the Fair Labor Standards Act and in the National 418 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 5: Labor Relations Act too, which excluded farm workers and domestic 419 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:53,919 Speaker 5: workers from collective bargaining and unionizing rights. And we know 420 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,160 Speaker 5: too that labor union power at that time was growing, 421 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 5: and it was also viewed as a way to mobilize 422 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 5: racial integration and racial power, and many of the exclusions 423 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 5: that happened at that time really were created to stop 424 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,959 Speaker 5: that and completely slow it down. In Oregon, we've been 425 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 5: trying to do a lot of these piecemeal efforts right 426 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 5: to make some of these things right. Even just this 427 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 5: past year, we tried to pass House Bill twenty three 428 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 5: fifty eight, which would have ended the farm worker exclusion 429 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,360 Speaker 5: from overtime pay for both hourly and peace rate workers, 430 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:29,520 Speaker 5: and that would have ended nearly a century old discrimination 431 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 5: and boosted pay for farm workers. But we also saw 432 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:36,359 Speaker 5: legislators in a progressive blue state say that we're not 433 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 5: going to prioritize this. Even those six other states already 434 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 5: had it, and Washington just passed theirs. 435 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,440 Speaker 2: So around half of farm workers in the United States 436 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:50,919 Speaker 2: are undocumented, right, which can put workers at even greater 437 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:52,240 Speaker 2: risk of exploitation. 438 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: That's a fact. 439 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 2: So now there's an act in DC, it's called the 440 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:02,679 Speaker 2: Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which is trying to change that, 441 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 2: and that proposal would offer an estimated one million and 442 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:12,719 Speaker 2: documented farm workers pathway to citizenship. Senate Republicans have pushed 443 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,919 Speaker 2: back against the bill, which passed the House in March, 444 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,679 Speaker 2: but there's actually been some disagreement on the bill between 445 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 2: farm worker advocates because the bill contains lengthy work requirements 446 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,399 Speaker 2: and because it could freeze a minimum wage for temporary 447 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 2: agricultural workers for a year. So Trini, who is a 448 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 2: farm worker with La Junon del Pueblo in the Rio 449 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 2: Grande Valley the RGV, spoke at a rally where she 450 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 2: called for a pathway to citizenship for herself and other workers. 451 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: Let's take a listen to what she says in Spanish. 452 00:23:51,280 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 7: Nco dianaloo career tellings jolengo paist dan bien jerois responder, 453 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:33,720 Speaker 7: can second cafera these and ta, yeah, I. 454 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,920 Speaker 4: Love that these inky, I know. 455 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 2: So just a quick sort of summary before I asked 456 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 2: our fabulous guests some questions. First of all, I'm really 457 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 2: glad that we brand that in Spanish because it's it's 458 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,879 Speaker 2: just very hard to translate that beauty of that voice. 459 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,680 Speaker 2: But basically, what Trini is saying that she's working long 460 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 2: days to provide for her children, her daughters. 461 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: This is the part that hit me, Maria. The proof 462 00:24:57,920 --> 00:24:59,680 Speaker 1: is in the scar in my hands. 463 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:02,639 Speaker 4: Scars, multiple scars. 464 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, multiple scars. You want proof, here's the proof. She's 465 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 2: worked so hard for her country, she's just asking for 466 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,800 Speaker 2: her country to give it back. She also mentions like, 467 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,680 Speaker 2: you know, I'm not raising delinquent kids, and everyone's talking 468 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,640 Speaker 2: about essential workers in quotes entricomedias will show up. 469 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:24,080 Speaker 1: For us, like show up for us? Yeah, wow, powerful words. 470 00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:26,000 Speaker 2: So Rain now talk to us about the need for 471 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 2: a pathway to citizenship for farm workers. And how do 472 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 2: you feel about the current bill, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. 473 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: How do you feel about it? Well, first I'll say, 474 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:41,920 Speaker 1: look right, yeah, no, the way it hurts, it definitely does. 475 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 5: And I think the workers like Threne deserve everything and more. 476 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 5: Right and right now with HR sixteen, oh, three. I'll 477 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 5: tell you right now, it's a compromise bill. But despite 478 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,680 Speaker 5: the fact that it's compromised, Peguan is supporting it. Really 479 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 5: what it does it creates an earned path to legalization 480 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 5: and then citizenship. And basically, if there's a worker that's 481 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:06,119 Speaker 5: been working one hundred and eighty days in the agricultural 482 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,200 Speaker 5: industry within two years prior to the passage of the bill, 483 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,800 Speaker 5: they qualify for this status called Certified Agricultural Worker Status. 484 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: Some of us call it the blue cart for suret. 485 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,119 Speaker 5: Like I got lat Hitasul is what a lot of 486 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,919 Speaker 5: our members call it. And with that that basically protects 487 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 5: you from deportation and it actually allows people to have 488 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 5: ability to travel back and forth to see family and 489 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,880 Speaker 5: other countries. And basically it does come with a couple 490 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 5: of things though you have to pay a fine, it 491 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 5: makes you go through a background check. But with the 492 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,119 Speaker 5: CAW you can basically renew it every five and a 493 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:43,040 Speaker 5: half years. Or if you've been working in agriculture for 494 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 5: ten years and you commit to working another four years 495 00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 5: in agriculture, you can qualify for legal permanent residency status. 496 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:53,359 Speaker 5: But if you've been working less than ten years, you 497 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 5: have to work with it for another eight years to 498 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 5: qualify for LPR status and basically, once you have LPR 499 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,040 Speaker 5: status for a in a mum of five years, you 500 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 5: can actually apply it for citizenship. 501 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:03,400 Speaker 1: Yeah. 502 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 5: That we're like, yeah, there's a path, but it's a 503 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 5: compromise path. The parts that were major compromises that were 504 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 5: really tough to swallow, but. 505 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:13,439 Speaker 1: We're like, we got to keep moving forward. 506 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 5: We're what you mentioned the one year wage freeze. Another 507 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 5: part that was really hard to swallow on the bill, 508 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 5: frankly was the compromise around Everify. 509 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 2: Right and Everify What it does, it's a database that 510 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 2: searches government records to verify someone's identity and basically the 511 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 2: system has actually been used to continue raids and detentions 512 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:38,120 Speaker 2: of undocumented immigrants because once you're in the system, people 513 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:38,879 Speaker 2: can find you. 514 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:39,560 Speaker 6: You know. 515 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,119 Speaker 5: One thing I will say is that there's some support. 516 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,440 Speaker 5: There's some folks that are not supporting it. And the 517 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:46,920 Speaker 5: reason why we did support it was it kind of 518 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 5: rang a little bit similar to what we felt in 519 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 5: nineteen eighty six when the immigration reforms happened back. 520 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:56,920 Speaker 4: Then under Ronald Reagan and the Democratic House Republican Ronald 521 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 4: Reagan and Democratic House, right. 522 00:27:58,320 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. 523 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 5: There was division amongst advocates at that time as well, 524 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 5: but nineteen eighty six is the reason why I'm here today. 525 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 5: I mean, I think that that was also a transformational 526 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,239 Speaker 5: policy that absolutely didn't have all the support of all 527 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,120 Speaker 5: the advocates. And you know, I truly believe I would 528 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 5: not be here today if it wasn't for my family 529 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:18,679 Speaker 5: being able to access a lot of that. I mean, 530 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,320 Speaker 5: the bottom line is that we do not have the 531 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 5: votes even with this compromised bill, and we know that 532 00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:29,399 Speaker 5: roughly one point two million undocumented farm workers could be 533 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 5: able to benefit from this program. And our members, you know, 534 00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:36,040 Speaker 5: even though they were like, yeah, this is very compromise, 535 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:37,960 Speaker 5: but we got to keep moving and we got to 536 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 5: support it in order to make something happen. And this 537 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,400 Speaker 5: is one of the very few policies that we've seen 538 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 5: that has bipartisan support. It's definitely something that we're going 539 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,000 Speaker 5: to have to take some heat around with our own community. 540 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,000 Speaker 5: But I think that we know that this is going 541 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 5: to have to be just one step in the bigger 542 00:28:58,280 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 5: picture that we're trying to move forward. 543 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 4: I don't know who you know, the whole thing where 544 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:03,880 Speaker 4: it's just like, yeah, well, yeah, you're a farm worker, 545 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 4: back breaking work, but you only did it for only 546 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 4: ten Yeah, you got to do more. And it's just like, 547 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 4: how much more do you have to prove? Which kind 548 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 4: of makes me think about that message being given to 549 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 4: our farmworkers, which is that they are not worthy. Yeah, 550 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 4: which is untrue. 551 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:20,560 Speaker 3: I know. 552 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 2: And Norma, what are your thoughts about the bill or 553 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 2: about the pathway to citizenship for farm workers? 554 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:26,080 Speaker 1: What can you share? 555 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 3: A pathway to citizenship is absolutely necessary. It is a 556 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 3: game changer. It is a difference for these farm workers 557 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,600 Speaker 3: and their ability to be able to access aid. I mean, 558 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,560 Speaker 3: even throughout the COVID pandemic, farm workers were among those 559 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:39,840 Speaker 3: that are undocumented that were excluded from some of this 560 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 3: relief packages that were being passed. These folks that were 561 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:46,040 Speaker 3: out there feeding us, working throughout the pandemic, risking their 562 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:48,880 Speaker 3: health and that of their family, were being denied the 563 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,959 Speaker 3: aid that they so desperately needed. And so for us, 564 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,960 Speaker 3: we understand that it's not perfect, but we know what 565 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 3: a difference it'll make in the lives of these farm 566 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 3: workers as we would hear stories of them leaving bags 567 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,600 Speaker 3: packed and notes posted in neighbors informed of like if 568 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 3: I get picked up by a raid, can you take 569 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 3: care of my kids? Can you pick them up from school? 570 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 3: Having to have these contingency plans because they were afraid 571 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:13,240 Speaker 3: that they wouldn't be able to see their children again 572 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 3: and wanted to make sure that their children were okay, 573 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 3: sending them to school with food in their backpacks. I mean, 574 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 3: this is a huge difference to them to be able 575 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 3: to access that. And as mentioned, you know from the 576 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 3: two point five to three million farm workers in this country, 577 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 3: approximately half are undocumented. So this is such a huge 578 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 3: game changer for the commute to access that sort of help. 579 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 3: And these folks have experienced decades of traumatizing work conditions, 580 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 3: economic insecurity, violence, sexual assault, the threats of deportation, and 581 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 3: so much vulnerability, and all of this was just exagerated 582 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,480 Speaker 3: over this last year because of COVID nineteen, and this 583 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 3: is part of a bigger issue that we're seeing. It's 584 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 3: not just farm workers, but farm workers are part of 585 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 3: essential workers and that's why with Justice for Migrant Women, 586 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,360 Speaker 3: we're one of the founding organizations for the Always Essential Campaign, 587 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 3: which is a national campaign focused on transforming what is 588 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 3: possible for essential workers, and so farm workers, as we've mentioned, 589 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 3: were deemed essential workers by the government throughout the pandemic, 590 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,440 Speaker 3: but they haven't been treated as such. And this is 591 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 3: a one point one trillion dollar sector in America, and 592 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 3: so for us, we're also supportive of the bills that 593 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 3: are out there too to be able to provide pathway 594 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,480 Speaker 3: to citizenship to essential workers, because that's the struggle that 595 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 3: we're seeing across. I mean, there's five million undocumented immigrants 596 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 3: that made those sacrifices that were part of frontline jobs 597 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:38,600 Speaker 3: that were central industries healthcare, home care, transportation, food production, construction, 598 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:41,760 Speaker 3: and farm workers that were in the agricultural industry. And 599 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 3: so for us, we see it as the least we 600 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 3: could do for these communities that are part of our society, 601 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:51,640 Speaker 3: a part of our country, that we saw how much 602 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,960 Speaker 3: they contributed and sacrificed and how important they were to 603 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,440 Speaker 3: keep us running. And so absolutely we know that all 604 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:00,680 Speaker 3: of these bills may not be perfect and include everything, 605 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,440 Speaker 3: but it does what we need, which is provide them 606 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 3: with the relief that they need, with the access to 607 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 3: be able to come out of the shadows and be 608 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 3: able to access to help that they need and be 609 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,040 Speaker 3: able to be confident when they go out and raise 610 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 3: their hand for some of these abuses that they're seeing, 611 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 3: because that's how they keep them under their thumb. I 612 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 3: mean the big thing about our culture work that people 613 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 3: are not naming that it's all about control. Absolutely, they 614 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:25,640 Speaker 3: want to control these workers exactly. 615 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 2: All right, let's move on to our final segment, which 616 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 2: we call COVID coping. 617 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,840 Speaker 4: So we want to end by recognizing the long history 618 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,000 Speaker 4: of organizing, resistance and mutual care that exists in the 619 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,560 Speaker 4: farm worker movement. I think, for me, I mean Caesar 620 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,120 Speaker 4: jav is like for serious, like I didn't eat grapes 621 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,640 Speaker 4: for so many years as a Mexican kid growing up 622 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:51,479 Speaker 4: in Chicago. And that's what it looks like across the country, 623 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 4: people seeing and identifying with the farm workers and the movement. 624 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:56,160 Speaker 6: Right. 625 00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:00,120 Speaker 4: So, the COVID nineteen pandemic has been really hard. More 626 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,320 Speaker 4: than six hundred thousand farmworkers were infected with the virus, 627 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:07,080 Speaker 4: according to researchers at Purdue University. Still, farm workers and 628 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,880 Speaker 4: advocates step in where the government has fallen short in 629 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:13,040 Speaker 4: terms of protecting farm workers and their physical and mental health. 630 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,720 Speaker 4: So in a year that has really taken such a toll, 631 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 4: I just wanted to end now in La Lultima. Can 632 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 4: you talk about how you're coping and how you're also 633 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 4: at the same time supporting workers. Yes and yeah, we 634 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:31,160 Speaker 4: like to talk about joy and hope. Yes, and particularly 635 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,280 Speaker 4: you know farm worker joy as a form of resistance. 636 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 4: So your thoughts and we'll start with you Norma. 637 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 3: Thank you. It's so incredibly important to be able to 638 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,200 Speaker 3: find ways to cope. As I mentioned, farm workers have 639 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:45,520 Speaker 3: been some of the hardest hit have been dealing with 640 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 3: decades of trauma, centuries of trauma, the indigenous communities, whether 641 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 3: it was the black slaves and then onto indentured farm 642 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 3: workers right down to now the LATINX farm workers that 643 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 3: are out there in the field and all those other 644 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 3: communities too. We have patient type folks that are out 645 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:06,440 Speaker 3: there harvesting their fruits and vegetables, and all of these 646 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,480 Speaker 3: folks have had to endure so much out there. We 647 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 3: started a Healing Voices project which we came together with 648 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:17,840 Speaker 3: National Migrancy so Onal Head Start Association, LATINX Therapy, and 649 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 3: the Eva Longoria Foundation to create a virtual therapy program 650 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:24,880 Speaker 3: for farm workers where we're able to provide them with 651 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 3: that mental health support with being able to teach them 652 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 3: with skills on how to be able to because we 653 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:32,560 Speaker 3: just kind of just buckled down right, We didn't have 654 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,319 Speaker 3: time to feel sad. Those feelings were real and they 655 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 3: felt but we just couldn't have the resources. We didn't 656 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,320 Speaker 3: have the language, we didn't have the ability to be 657 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 3: able to face and deal with some of these things. 658 00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:45,879 Speaker 3: And unfortunately, these traumas got passed down and passed down, 659 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:47,719 Speaker 3: and before you know what, I am atul year old 660 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 3: getting yelled at by this white farmer, creating more trauma 661 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 3: of my own. But we're trying to be able to 662 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 3: give farm workers a way to be able to cope 663 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:58,960 Speaker 3: with some of these issues of treating their mental health 664 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:01,480 Speaker 3: just as important, and as we're treating the physical health 665 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:04,400 Speaker 3: the same OA we're pushing for those health standards to 666 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:07,280 Speaker 3: make sure that farm workers are safe in their physical body, 667 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,400 Speaker 3: we want to make sure that we also have an 668 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 3: OSHA mental health standard developed as well for all workers, 669 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 3: those folks that have been in the front line, because 670 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 3: as you mentioned, we just went through a pandemic. It's 671 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:20,839 Speaker 3: huge and it was traumatic for all of us as 672 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 3: a planet. I wasn't even just here in our country. 673 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 3: We're providing these sort of resources here at home. I 674 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 3: just remind myself of where I came from in those 675 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:30,920 Speaker 3: roots and the work that needs to get done there. 676 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:33,440 Speaker 3: But I also am so happy that I get to 677 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:35,640 Speaker 3: be able to hold my little girl close and give 678 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:37,840 Speaker 3: her lots of hugs and kisses and know that she 679 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:39,320 Speaker 3: won't have to go out there in the fields the 680 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 3: way I did, and not have to work the way 681 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:43,160 Speaker 3: that I had to work to be able to make 682 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,719 Speaker 3: ends meet. And the fact that I, thanks to this vaccination, 683 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,279 Speaker 3: got to go hold my parents after being apart from 684 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 3: them for a year and a half recently, and so 685 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,880 Speaker 3: that's been beautiful in my way of being able to 686 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:55,879 Speaker 3: cope with all of this is making sure that I'm 687 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 3: taking care of myself. 688 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:01,520 Speaker 4: Oh we love that. Thank you Norma your thoughts for me. 689 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,840 Speaker 5: It's been just going back to my roots, especially around 690 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 5: healing practices of Pipchat da Rasco people, which is where 691 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 5: my people come from in Mitwa Ghan and represent And 692 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:16,239 Speaker 5: I think a lot of that too is just the 693 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:20,719 Speaker 5: integration of at the Movimento movement. One of the programs 694 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,239 Speaker 5: that we have going on at Bakun based out of 695 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:26,400 Speaker 5: the network of our sister organizations is the Onawok program 696 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:31,240 Speaker 5: where it's really been based around indigenous healing practices, focusing 697 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:35,960 Speaker 5: on an ancestral wisdom of how we did our planting 698 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 5: back in the Madrepata, back in the motherland, and putting 699 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:43,840 Speaker 5: in different practices of how we utilize medicinal herbs and 700 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 5: really the practices and rituals that we would do when 701 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,360 Speaker 5: we started harvest. And on the personal note too, lots 702 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:54,040 Speaker 5: of river time, lots of time and nature, lots of 703 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,480 Speaker 5: dancing musika. I think that that's really the thing that 704 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,200 Speaker 5: brings me a lot of joy. And you know, one 705 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 5: of my happy places is the river. The river has 706 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 5: been just one of the most healing places for me 707 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,279 Speaker 5: and my family. And I'm really lucky that I get 708 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:12,280 Speaker 5: to live in a place right now, especially where wildfire 709 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,640 Speaker 5: season hasn't hit well Nomah County, Marion County like it 710 00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:18,480 Speaker 5: did last year, and just being able to do that 711 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 5: on my time that I get to be, you know, 712 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:21,920 Speaker 5: with my family. 713 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:26,000 Speaker 4: I'm just saying, Julio, nature heals. You have heard it 714 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:27,400 Speaker 4: from Rena Lopez. 715 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:29,759 Speaker 1: I just want to put it on record. I'm down 716 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:30,440 Speaker 1: with rivers. 717 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:32,320 Speaker 2: I don't know if I can bird watch, but I 718 00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:35,800 Speaker 2: can do rivers and whitewater rafting and kayaking and all that, 719 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:36,320 Speaker 2: So I'm. 720 00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:39,600 Speaker 4: Gonna jump down with that, okay. Reyna Lopez, executive director 721 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:44,840 Speaker 4: of PICQUN and Norma Flores Lopez, Chief Programs Officer A 722 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,360 Speaker 4: Justice for Migrant Women, thank you so much for bringing 723 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:51,520 Speaker 4: it real right here on in the Thick and joining 724 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 4: Julu and me on this episode. Thank you so so much, 725 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 4: thank you, thank you so much. I'm Marie Nojsa and 726 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:04,760 Speaker 4: I'm Jul And this episode was produced by our summer intern, 727 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:09,040 Speaker 4: Sarah Hirshander. Thank you so much. Sarah. Wow, great great work. 728 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:12,000 Speaker 4: And remember, dear listener, go to Apple Podcasts to rate 729 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,200 Speaker 4: and review us. Thumbs up to Sarah the intern for 730 00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:16,400 Speaker 4: producing this episode. 731 00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:17,239 Speaker 1: Five start. 732 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,880 Speaker 4: You can say that, yes, it really helps other people 733 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 4: to find us. Also, you can remember now to listen 734 00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:24,480 Speaker 4: to In the Thick wherever you decide to get your 735 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:27,799 Speaker 4: podcasts on Bondora, Spotify, you know. Check us out also 736 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:29,840 Speaker 4: on the web at Inthethik dot org, follow us on 737 00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:32,120 Speaker 4: Twitter and on Instagram at in the Thick Show, Like 738 00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:34,680 Speaker 4: us on Facebook and tell everyone you know to listen. 739 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 4: In the Thick is produced by nor Saudi Harshanahata and 740 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:41,200 Speaker 4: our New York Women's Foundation Ignite fellow Lisa Salinas along 741 00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:45,040 Speaker 4: with our intern Sarah Hrschander, with editorial support from Charlotte 742 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:48,640 Speaker 4: Manjin and Nicole Rothwell. Our audio engineering team is Stephanie Lebaud, 743 00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:51,880 Speaker 4: Julia Russo, Lea Sha Damaran, and gabriel A Bias. Our 744 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:54,680 Speaker 4: digital editor is Visnuna. The music you heard is courtesy 745 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:59,000 Speaker 4: of Nacional Kept and zz Key Records, and Raul Perez 746 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:00,400 Speaker 4: has a day off. 747 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:02,600 Speaker 1: He didn't help me with the recording. 748 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,880 Speaker 4: Not helping me. Nope, it's Harsha. It's all harsh in 749 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,200 Speaker 4: the studio. Yeah, thank you so much for listening, dear listener, 750 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:10,520 Speaker 4: Maye Siya. 751 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:21,120 Speaker 3: The opinions expressed by the guests and contributors in this 752 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:24,600 Speaker 3: podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the 753 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,160 Speaker 3: views of Futuro Media or its employees.