"Three UF students will spend their Spring Breakįasting to bring attention to the unfair treatment of tomato pickers. This film examines the way that forced labor lasted well into the 20th century. “Slavery by Another Name” is a 90-minute documentary that challenges one of Americas’ most cherished assumptions: the belief that slavery in this country ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. The Bracero Program was a system put in place from 1942-1964 to recruit Mexican farm laborers for temporary work in the United States. “Harvest of Loneliness: The Bracero Program”, is a film that sheds light on the current debate over immigration reform and the use of “guest workers” in American agriculture. Sunday April 1 at the Quaker Meeting House, 704 NW 38th Street in Gainesville. Gainesville Friends will host a public forum on farmworkers, with particular attention to farmworkers in Florida, 1 p.m. "Harvest of Loneliness" will be shown 7:30 p.m Tuesday March 27 and "Slavery By Another Name" 7:30p.m Thursday March 29 at Mennonite Meeting House/ Beltram Peace Center, 1236 NW 18th Avenue in Gainesville. Gainesville events for National Farmworker Awareness Week include two films followed by discussion and a forum on the Immokalee Workers and the Fair Food campaign. They were taking part in the Fast for Fair Food by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers urging Publix to join other major tomato buyers in an agreement for improved pay and working conditions. UF students Victor Yengle and Juliette Barbara, who recently spent six days fasting on water only alongside farmworkers from Immokalee, will receive the proclamation from Mayor Craig Lowe. The proclamation is an effort to call attention to their situation. Cases of actual involuntary servitude (slavery) are not unknown in Florida, even in Alachua County. The proclamation recognizes "Farmworkers hand-harvest 85% of the fruits and vegetables on our tables,but remain nearly invisible, even those who work in fields here in Alachua County." Farmworkers have "one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States," with high incidence of job-related accidents and pesticide poisoning, they earn very little for their labor and work under deplorable conditions. The Gainesville City Commission will proclaim March 25-31 as National Farmworker Awareness Week at their meeting Thursday night at the request of Gainesville Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice.
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