150th Anniversary of Emancipation Proclamation spurs reflections on Campaign for Fair Food…


“The CIW is making a difference, and can serve as a model for bringing together workers, corporations, and consumers to act for justice.”

This past Saturday marked the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s preliminary proclamation putting the Confederate states on notice that he would order the emancipation of the slaves in any state that did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863.

Also this past Saturday, two opinion writers reflected on that momentous anniversary to draw attention to “those who still live in bondage” today and to “one successful campaign to end forced labor (that) is right in our own backyards in Florida,” the Campaign for Fair Food.

The first piece, “Ending modern slavery conditions in Florida,” was written by the Rev. Parrish Jones, a Presbyterian minister from St. Augustine, Florida, and published in the Jacksonville Times Union. Here’s an excerpt:

“Today we celebrate a little-remembered event, that 150 years ago President Abraham Lincoln gave a preliminary order declaring the emancipation of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to the Union by Jan.1, 1863.

Thanks to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an organization founded by tomato pickers in Southwest Florida and their interfaith partners, Florida and the United States are closer to realizing Lincoln’s dream of a slave-free America.

Since 1997 the Justice Department has successfully prosecuted seven human slavery cases in Florida alone, four of which involved tomato pickers.

The investigations and prosecutions liberated 1,000 men and women. The cases included evidence and testimony of abductions, pistol whippings, confinement at gunpoint and with chains, debt bondage and starvation wages.

Agreements were obtained from almost all Florida tomato growers and many of our nation’s largest grocers and fast food restaurants to abide by the code of conduct developed by the Fair Food Program. The code requires living wages and humane working conditions — shade stations, drinking water and toilets in the fields…” read more

Rev. Jones goes on to suggest that readers who would like to support efforts to eradicate modern-day slavery should support the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food — mentioning in particular the campaign to bring Publix into the Fair Food Program — and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

The second piece, written by Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster and entitled “An Act of Justice: Reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act,” was published in the blog Race Talk .Rabbi Kahn-Troster also singled out the Campaign for Fair Food for particular:

“… One successful campaign to end forced labor is right in our own backyards in Florida, where the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has helped law enforcement prosecute seven human trafficking cases, involving over 1,000 workers, since 1997. Slavery in the Florida tomato industry is the extreme end of a violence-filled, exploitative workplace. Indeed, one federal prosecutor called Florida’s agricultural sector “ground zero” for human trafficking in the United States. The CIW’s groundbreaking campaign, initiated and organized by the farmworkers themselves, is to end the conditions that create slavery, targeting growers to institute a human rights code of conduct in the fields (which includes zero tolerance for forced labor) and targeting the corporate buyers of tomatoes to only buy from growers with a code of conduct and to pay a higher wage directly for workers. The CIW is making a difference, and can serve as a model for bringing together workers, corporations, and consumers to act for justice.” read more

Both articles are well-written and thought provoking, Check them out today!