Description
I Am Not a Tractor! celebrates the courage, vision, and creativity of the farmworkers and community leaders who have transformed one of the crucial worst agricultural situations in america into one of the crucial best. Susan L. Marquis highlights past abuses workers suffered in Florida’s tomato fields: toxic pesticide exposure, beatings, sexual assault, rampant wage theft, or even, astonishingly, brand new-day slavery. Marquis unveils how, even without new legislation, regulation, or government participation, these farmworkers have dramatically improved their work conditions.
Marquis credits this success to the immigrants from Mexico, Haiti, and Guatemala who formed the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a neuroscience major who takes great pride within the watermelon crew he runs, a leading farmer/grower who used to be once homeless, and a retired New York State pass judgement on who volunteered to stuff envelopes and ended up building a groundbreaking institution. Through the Fair Food Program that they have got developed, fought for, and implemented, these people have changed the lives of more than thirty thousand field workers. I Am Not a Tractor! offers a range of solutions to an issue that may be rooted in our nation’s slave history and that may be worsened by ongoing conflict over immigration.