Two new articles make it plain: It’s time to end slavery and sweatshops in Florida’s fields! …

"It was really stunning – the likes of which I have never seen in my life. I’ve long been interested in workers issues. But when we talk about the race to the bottom here in the United States I would say that Immokalee, Florida is the bottom. I think those are workers who are more ruthlessly exploited and treated with more contempt than any group of workers that I’ve ever seen and I suspect exist in the US." — Senator Bernie Sanders, in a compelling interview with Nation magazine editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel published in the Nation online.

Two articles out this week show that the latest slavery case to emerge from Immokalee still has the power to shock some observers, though the tomato growers’ lobby — despite seven such cases in Florida’s fields over the past ten years alone — continues to insist that modern-day slavery is not an issue they need to address.

The editorial in Monday’s Palm Beach Post, entitled "End the New Slavery," starts:

"It should have been shocking to hear that two weeks ago, federal authorities indicted six people from Immokalee on slavery charges. But most Floridians have learned enough in recent years not to be too
surprised by revelations regarding brutal violations of human rights in the state’s farm fields."

Someone who was shocked by "brutal violations of human rights in the state’s farm fields" was Senator Bernie Sanders, who shared his impressions of his recent visit to Immokalee with Nation editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel in a remarkable interview published today. Here’s an excerpt:

"The days I was there – it was raining, when it rains you don’t pick. The next day it rained mid-day so you had half a day of picking. Then, an amazing coincidence – when I was there the US Attorney announced an indictment on slavery charges. So we have seen now – I don’t remember exactly the number – of different indictments that have been made against different individuals for slavery… which means that some of these people are being held in captivity, in some cases in chains. I think in the last instances, a couple of workers literally forcibly busted out of truck in which they were held against their will. So, the norm there is a disaster, and the extreme is slavery. And this is taking place in the United States of America in the year 2008."

Tomato lobby representatives, however, find no reason for alarm. In fact, from the industry’s perspective, the only outrageous thing about all the slavery prosecutions is that the public should hold the growers’ accountable for the abuses. As Reggie Brown put it in an interview with the Miami Herald during a recent visit to Immokalee, "We finally said enough. We’re not going to be accused of things we don’t do. This is certainly not a labor force held in servitude."

Just days after Mr. Brown’s defiant interview, federal prosecutors filed charges against yet another forced labor operation, in what US Attorney Doug Molloy called a case of "slavery, plain and simple."

Perhaps Mr. Brown’s might more profitably direct his outrage at the farm employers who continue to make his job as chief apologist for the tomato industry so difficult, rather than at the farmworkers who have finally said enough, we’re not going to be abused in silence any longer…