A Personal Reflection on the Farmworker Freedom March
I have marched with many people for many causes, but I’m sure I’ve logged more miles with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) than anyone else. It helps that they tend to have wonderfully epic marches, but the years have added up too.
Other than supporting my dad’s union, the CIW’s Taco Bell campaign was the first labor solidarity work I had ever done. Early during my freshman year of college, my student group brought a CIW member to Northwestern to talk about the campaign. A few months later, two carloads of us drove down to Louisville for an 8-mile march through town, ending at Yum Brands corporate headquarters. I still remember that trip vividly – we forgot that Louisville and Chicago were in different time zones, got to the march late and were running through town trying to catch it. I wrote in my journal that night, “I'm looking forward to doing more things like this protest in the future. ... I felt like I was doing something worthwhile.” Who knew that over six years later I’d have dedicated my entire life to labor struggle, and would still be marching with the CIW?
I think a lot of people have that experience with the CIW, though. There is something magnetic to it. Maybe it is the inspiring people you meet, maybe it is the art and music, or maybe it is that from their base in Immokalee they keep beating some of the biggest companies in the world. Regardless, they help everyone believe that however long the struggle, we can change the world.
The CIW’s classic energy was on full display at the Farmworker Freedom March last weekend, but I think this march held extra meaning for me personally because it also reaffirmed the work I do every day. When I showed up from Chicago, one of the very first people I saw was Isaac, a UNITE HERE Local 362 worker leader from Disney. He was proudly sporting a red shirt matching my own. He remembered me from Atlanta, where we had previously both traveled to build a fighting union with airport food service workers. We walked side-by-side a lot of the day as he filled me in on his efforts to organize his own coworkers to take on Disney. The next day, even more support came from Local 362, including Local president Eric Clinton and members from Disney and the Orlando airport.
Meanwhile, I kept meeting students from all around the country who are active with UNITE HERE, and other allies who were just excited to see us on the march. I felt like I was a part of something much bigger and the connection between what I’m doing now and what I was doing six years ago seemed as strong as ever. Sometimes I guess you just know beyond any doubt that you’re in the right place. Through all of the stressful details, we’re building relationships that make up a movement with incredible potential -- to bring justice to the fields, to bring justice to cafeterias and to change all of our lives.
