Sometimes a great story will get lost... Talk by “Not a Tractor” author, Susan Marquis: “Transforming the Fields: Defining and Claiming Farmworker Rights”… Susan Marquis, left, prepares for her conversation with Korsha Wilson, right, at the 2019 Southern Foodways Fall Symposium in Oxford, Mississippi, this past October. Susan is the Dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School in Los Angeles and the author of “I Am not a Tractor”, the definitive history of the CIW’s organizing efforts and the groundbreaking Fair Food Program. Sometimes a great story will get lost in the never-ending torrent of news and analysis coming out of the Fair Food movement. This past October, just such a story took place in the historic college town of Oxford, Mississippi, and, by no fault of its own, promptly got lost in the shadow of last month’s big march in New York City. But consider the story lost no longer. Susan Marquis, Dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School in Los Angeles and author of the exceptional history of the CIW and the Fair Food Program “I Am not a Tractor”, gave a remarkable talk on the CIW and the Fair Food Program at the 2019 Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) Fall Symposium, and now you can read her remarks in full on our website. But first, a bit of context. The theme of this year’s symposium was “Food is Work”, with a focus on the labor undergirding every level of our nation’s massive food industry. Here’s how the SFA framed the conference: For 2019 the Southern Foodways Alliance tells stories of the domestic and public labor that powers growing, cooking, and serving food. Join us in Oxford, and on the University of Mississippi campus, October 24-26, for our twenty-second fall symposium. In a way that welcomes all, SFA weaves together smart talks, great food, compelling art, and challenging conversations. Join us. We will showcase work songs from Georgia cane fields and Carolina mills. We will tell stories of the cooks who feed working folk at construction sites and tobacco fields. We will sing songs of soup beans and the fight-for-fifteen. Leading the way will be – among many other good and smart folk — Kiese Laymon, Carnegie medal winning author of Heavy, chef Maneet Chauhan, the pride of Nashville, and Jessie Wilkerson, author of To Live Here, You Have to Fight. Susan began her own remarks with this beautifully written introduction: Good morning. I’m here to share a story of farmworkers in America. If you pay attention to food, and who puts that food on our tables, you know this story, but it bears repeating and it needs context. That’s what I aim to offer. What I am also offering may not be what you are expecting. And that is a different ending to the story. For much of our nation’s history, farmworkers, whether enslaved or free, immigrant or native born, have been the voiceless; the powerless; the ones who needed somebody to save them. But, that is no longer true. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers have changed the ending of this story. Florida farmworkers have built a powerful tool that protects not just their own rights but provides a model to protect the rights of agricultural, factory, and other low-wage workers for the rest of the world.And that is good news – a story of not only of hope but real and tractable opportunity… Read more highlights from Susan's presentation over at the CIW website! Coalition of Immokalee Workers (239) 657 8311 | [email protected] | www.ciw-online.org Connect with us ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ A copy of the CIW's official registration and financial information may be obtained from the Florida Division of Consumer Services by calling toll-free 1-800-HELP-FLA (435-7352). Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by the state. The website for the Florida Division of Consumer Services is [link removed] Coalition of Immokalee Workers | 110 S 2nd St, Immokalee, FL 34142 Unsubscribe [email protected] About Constant Contact Sent by [email protected] in collaboration with Try email marketing for free today!