The life of a Migrant Farm Worker in the United States is most comparable to that of other historically low wage jobs such as an indentured servant, and slaves, who like Migrant Farm Workers, were essentially people who were forcibly relocated to the United States to perform the tasks that white Americans viewed as beneath them.  These days, the capitalist economy and the over-whelming wealth of the United States allow those at the top to over-look and ignore the processes through which this abundance is cultivated and supplied to the masses, thus perpetuating the Marxist model of pyramid economics where those at the top extort money from those at the bottom who need menial labor to survive.  As members of a consumer society, Americans have become used to going to the grocery store and being able to purchase every type of fruit or vegetable that is able to be picked, shipped and stocked before they turn bad.  It is plausible that seeing food appear before them on a shelf in a store has aided in the dehumanization of the processes of food and made it possible to ignore the atrocities that these people have been forced to endure in the attempt of corporations to keep the cost low for the consumer. 

With millions of people, who prefer their produce cheap and abundant, willing to look the other way as a mostly Mexican work force works ten hour days to make an average of 35 cents per 32 pound bucket, this modern day slave labor is far from being deemed unconstitutional.  In an effort to unite farm workers against big business, groups such as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in America and Justicia for Migrant Workers in Canada have been effective in initiating discussion and small changes in this David and Goliath Battle.  The vision of these groups has made change possible, but at the same time has brought to light the immense disparity between basic human needs and the treatment of these non-citizens who have traveled to this country for the chance of a better life.  However, with the possibility of achieving the “American Dream” years of sweat away, it seems as though the only hope for Migrant Farm Workers in the immediate future is in the reclamation of their labor, their heritage, and their happiness which corporations have easily taken, and they have fought so hard to win back.

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©2006 Jamie Campbell