Longtime member of CIW family and artist/activist extraordinaire, Olmeca, after receiving first-ever CIW Artist of Conscience Award: “CIW doesn’t just see the long-road, CIW is the long-road!”

Esperanza, the CIW’s 15-ft tall puppet representing the hopes of all farmworkers for a more humane agricultural industry, continued her sojourn in Palm Beach on Saturday, Day 2 of the Farmworker Freedom Festival, where she was joined by hundreds of workers and allies from around the state for a jam-packed day of cultural action and reflection.  Streaming into town in buses and caravans from Tampa, Miami, Homestead, and Gainesville, the Fair Food Nation made its way to Bradley Park to celebrate the unprecedented human rights advances achieved under the Fair Food Program and to call on Wendy’s Board Chair Nelson Peltz to help expand those advances to workers in the hamburger giant’s supply chain: 

But even on a day full of unique cultural treasures — original theater, art, music and history, all drawn from the heart of Immokalee’s farmworker community and reflecting the many facets of the CIW’s three decades of struggle, sacrifice, and success — Esperanza, the amazing compendium of basket weaving rattan root, papier mache, flowing cloth, and ribbon come to life, stole the show:

Another star of the day’s varied cultural line-up was the CIW’s Modern-day Slavery Museum, anchored by a box truck that houses artifacts from the museum’s permanent display, including headlines and copies of court documents from several of the pivotal federal prosecutions — slavery rings uncovered and investigated by CIW members — that helped spark and grow the modern movement to end human trafficking in the US.  The truck is a replica of the vehicle where workers in the case US v Navarrete were often chained at night and held against their will, then released again in the morning to harvest tomatoes, an unimaginable cycle of exploitation that was only broken when two workers were able to punch a hole in the truck’s roof and escape, making their way to the CIW office and the Immokalee police sub-station to denounce their employer.  Their brave action initiated what would become the prosecution that ultimately broke through decades of stalemate and conflict between workers in Immokalee and the tomato industry and launched the Fair Food Program:

The truck and the rest of the museum’s unique collection offered Farmworker Freedom Festival participants a space for quiet reflection on the extraordinary arc of the CIW’s struggle — from forced labor to Fair Food — and on the ongoing, urgent need to expand the FFP’s hard-won protections to the hundreds of thousands of farmworkers across the country who continue to harvest our food in fields where poverty and abuse — up to and including modern-day slavery — continue unabated:

Day 2 also offered a multitude of spaces for collective reflection with a full line-up of workshops — with topics from “Come to the Table: Interfaith dialogue on the history of faith allies in the Campaign for Fair Food” to “Human Rights in the Workplace: Conversations on worker-driven initiatives for social change” — where participants could share their thoughts and experience with others and build the bonds of consciousness and solidarity that are the very fiber of the Fair Food movement:

And speaking of a full line-up!… Running throughout Day 2 of the Freedom Festival was a celebration of musical traditions from across the cultural spectrum of the state’s diverse farmworker community. The line-up opened with the 813 Project from Tampa, who brought Bomba music to the heart of Palm Beach, an engaging musical collaboration between artists and audience with rhythmic roots that reach all the way back to West Africa, emerged 400 years ago on Puerto Rico’s colonial plantations in the fight against slavery there, and continue to echo throughout the Caribbean today:

… and closed with a headliner representing the best of today’s popular music from Guatemala — Malacates Trébol Shop — who brought us home on Day 2 with a rousing concert that had people up and dancing into the night with a complex mix of ska, rock, and pop:

But the true headliner of Day 2’s musical line up was Olmeca, a name that rings out to longtime fans of Fair Food with unforgettable performances that trace the 20 year history of the Campaign for Fair Food — from Irvine to Chicago to every town and city in Florida where the CIW has taken the stage, they took it with Olmeca by their side, the soundtrack of the CIW’s struggle for a generation… commitment in cultural form… indeed the only artist who could alter the fundamental calculus of change that has defined the CIW for over three decades to read:

Consciousness + CULTURE = Change

And so it was only fitting that the first artist ever to be recognized by the CIW for their contribution to the Fair Food movement — the fist-ever recipient of the CIW’s Artist of Conscience Award — was Olmeca, seen here on the left receiving the award from the CIW’s Gerardo Reyes during following his performance on Day 2:

We’ll close today’s update with Olmeca’s words after receiving the award, because, of course, his words perfectly captured the message at the heart of the Fair Food Movement:

I’m really at a loss for words now, and I didn’t even think that was possible.  But I don’t want to cry so…

The Coalition understands the long-term process, they have a vision of the future.  And they are very disciplined about what that vision is.  So if you’re ever talking to students, volunteers, organizers, community activists, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to me represents what the future could look like.

And it’s really, it’s about being patient, and the belief that humanity trumps everything.  Humanity is first.  Politics is second.  Humanity is first. And as long as we can believe and understand that part, we’ll be together for the long haul. Muchisimas gracias de nuevo.  Gracias.

Day 2 was a glorious, sun — and spirit-filled day of celebration, a weaving of cultural experience that had to be lived to truly underhand. But we are including a gallery here below to do our best to share that experience for all who couldn’t join us, so we hope you can enjoy it as we did!

And be sure to check back soon for our big Day 3 report, including a full media round-up and the culmination of the 3-day event: Esperanza’s pilgrimage of hope…

Coalition of Immokalee Workers
110 S 2nd St
Immokalee, FL 34142
United States

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