By Lacey Bitter?News Editor bitter09@up.edu
Only a few miles outside of Portland, hundreds of people spend their days reaching deep into the thickets of raspberry bushes, scratching their arms as they pick the small berries and lay them gently into berry baskets that may end up on your kitchen table. Many of these farm workers don't have their own gloves for this work, meaning that every raspberry comes with a cut on their weathered hands.
The workers' children play in the fields nearby as their parents can't afford any childcare. They play in the mud while their parents work, and when they get back home they don't have a basketball hoop or swing set outside their houses. Often their parents can't even afford to feed them dinner.
If these farm workers get a deep cut or injure their backs from the rough labor, they often have to use home remedies to cope, without the help of their employers.
To increase awareness of the situation for migrant farm workers like these, two organizations at the University of Portland are collaborating for upcoming events. Members of the Diversity Committee are traveling to Sandy, Ore. today to meet a family of farm workers and learn about their experiences, and on Tuesday, this committee, along with Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, or M.E.C.H.A., will be sponsoring a panel discussion commemorating the birthday of civil rights activist Cesar Chavez.
"I think a lot of the time the students don't get firsthand experiences with anything that's affecting us besides just what's on campus. People don't see the reality that happens," said freshman Yaneira Romero, who has been planning these events and began M.E.C.H.A., which was just recognized as a club this spring.
The panel discussion occurring on Tuesday will feature five different panelists, followed by an opportunity to discuss.
As panelists, freshmen Lupita Ruiz and Gaby Arenas will speak about their experiences with migrant camps, and Ruiz will also read an essay she wrote about Chavez that won first place in a contest in M.E.C.H.A.
Other panelists include high school counselor Armando Gonzalez, who has met Chavez and also hosts a radio show on local radio station KBOO; Director of Oregon Immigrations Rights Coalition Francisco Lopez; and Jane Eilers, who worked with Chavez at United Farm Workers, the organization Chavez founded, from 1976 to 1981.
This panel discussion is one of about two or three that the Diversity Committee holds each semester. The committee is made up of students and faculty and is head by Bethany Sills, assistant director of Student Activities and multicultural programs coordinator.
"I think these events are always good for the health of the community," Sills said.
Romero hopes that the discussion will help raise awareness not only of migrant farm workers but also about Chavez, who was one of the first leaders working for farm workers' rights. Romero said that she participated in a movement to change the name of a Portland street to Cesar Chavez and passed a petition on campus, and many people did not know who Chavez was.
"Chavez is a hero to me, it's like saying you don't know who Martin Luther King or Gandhi is," Romero said.
The Diversity Committee's trip to a farm labor camp today is also to raise awareness of these issues that Chavez spent his life fighting for but are still unresolved.
"There are still issues related to farm workers' rights that need to be protected," Sills said.
The camp in Sandy is one of the thousands in the northwest, but by witnessing the experiences of these workers, the students and faculty involved can learn more about the lives of thousands of workers.
Beginning Monday, M.E.C.H.A. will be holding a needs drive on campus, collecting food, clothes and toiletry items for migrant farm workers. The club will then deliver the products to the camp on a separate trip on April 5.
"Farm workers go through so much that we just aren't aware of when it comes to the basic necessities of life," Romero said. "The little necessities that might be little to us are huge to them."
