immigrant workers
THE VAST AGRICULTURAL plain of Ventura County in California, where César Chávez first envisioned the United Farm Workers movement, is no stranger to grassroots activism. When federal immigration officers raided Glass House Farms in Camarillo on July 10, a rapid response network, the 805 Immigrant Coalition, immediately used its text app to mobilize citizens to protest and document the event.
“This is quickly becoming one of the largest operations since President Trump took office,” wrote Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on social media as the chaotic raid unfolded, a raid that ultimately resulted in the death of farmworker Jaime Alanís Garcia.
Beyond the typical objections that the Harry Potter books will turn children into Satan-worshipers and encourage them to disrespect authority, one mom complained that she found it inappropriate that at Hogwarts food magically appears on the table at mealtime. Her argument was that she wants her children to have a good work ethic and not to believe that anything in life is free. She wanted her girls to know that preparing meals is hard work and so would therefore be sheltering them from this absurd depiction of people getting something for nothing.
I think at the time I had to restrain myself from asking if she also banned her kids from hearing the story of the feeding on the 5,000 in Sunday school, but it was hard not to think about her objection a few months later as I read The Goblet of Fire and its subplot about house elves. As it revealed, food does not magically appear on the tables at Hogwarts, it is prepared by hardworking elves who in the wizarding world are generally kept as slaves.
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How ironic that for all the protests going on about unemployment these days that a parallel debate is occurring in our agricultural sector: What to do about a shortage of workers to pick crops or care for livestock on U.S. farms.