Farmworkers in Watsonville, California, known as America's strawberry capital, will look up from the fields on Saturday to see a line of cars honking, waving, holding posters and shouting 'thank you' in several languages.
Farmworkers in Watsonville, California, known as America's strawberry capital, will look up from the fields on Saturday to see a line of cars honking, waving, holding posters and shouting"thank you" in several languages.
The campesino, or farmworker,"appreciation caravans" started last weekend, the brainchild of several activists — some of them the children of farmworkers. "We used that money to pay car insurance while studying, and put gas in our car,” said Ruby Vasquez, 56, a school teacher. Her father came to the U.S. from Mexico, her mother’s family started a strawberry business, and they’ve grown and sold strawberries for decades.
“Many of the members in our group who are organizing the caravan come from that background," Vasquez said."And we see it as a very noble profession, noble job. We just want to recognize this as an essential work—we wanted to let them know that they are not invisible, we wanted to recognize them, validate them, honor them.”Courtesy Gabriel Jesse Medina
The caravans are not just a mission of gratitude; organizers have also been passing around reading materials in Spanish and Mixtec, a Mexican indigenous language, giving farmworkers information on COVID-19 hygiene practices, directions on how to find welfare and medical resources, and tips on how to respond if approached by ICE.
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