Day 8
It was actually in Fresno where my friend Sarah told me that the Central Valley is known as ‘the bread basket of the nation.’ I would say the Central Coast is not far behind it. There are tons of farms growing cherries, apricots, cabbage, grapes, tomatoes, and countless more offerings. It is no wonder that so much of our food, even in NYC, has stickers from California.
As I drove today from San Francisco to San Luis Obispo (slightly more than halfway back to Los Angeles), I was struck by the food industry that monopolizes so much of California. My thoughts turned from the actual food to the people who pick and gather the food for so many of us in the U.S. As I drove down highway 1 and later 101, I saw hundreds laboring in the fields in hooded sweatshirts to protect them from scratches and sunburn. These people, many likely undocumented, are fueling an incredibly valuable industry in our country. If they are undocumented, they likely earn low wages that keep food prices at the rock-bottom prices that Americans demand. Towns like Greenfield, where I saw some of these farm workers, are hubs for immigrants from Oaxaca. They are here in the Central Coast in order to work on these farms to pick the food to feed this country.
It is not exactly the same in Brooklyn. We don’t have any real agriculture within the city, but we do have industry. I know many of my students have parents who work in the factories along the waterfront in Sunset Park. Others take long bus rides to New Jersey to work in factories over there. On my bike ride to work every day, I pass men (mostly Latino) sitting out on a corner and waiting for a truck to drive by and pick them for a construction job for which I doubt they are legally working. This is just what I know and I see. I am certain the web of undocumented labor is more intricate and immense than I can fathom. These workers help us maintain some of the luxuries that Americans take for granted and yet it is them and not their employers who bear the brunt of the attacks from immigration ‘reformists.’
I know that one of the obstacles at my school to parent involvement is a lack of time related to long work hours and fear about getting involved in the school if they are undocumented. Not only does this weaken the parent-teacher-student team, making it harder to support students socially and academically, but it also prevents the school from truly reaching its mission of partnering with the community to support our teen’s educational journey. I can’t fix all of society’s ills, but how can I consider the challenges my students and their families face in order to be more responsive in how I teach and how I participate in the school community?