Re: Life Expectancies of Farm workers

[Guest guest]

Towards the end of Dec. 2001, there were at least two inquires made on

this list serve (e.g., sbauerch@... and rustg@....) regarding

life expectancies of migrant workers. A discussion took place as to where

the life expectancy figure of 50 yrs came from. Most everybody agreed that

it seemed rather low. It seemed that nobody knew exactly where this statistic

could be found or where it came from. I don't know if anybody eventually

found the source of the statistic, but I recent found something that could

be the source.

In the book César Chávez: Autobiography of La Causa.

New York: W.W. Norton Company Inc. (Year?) on page 9 it reads (the voice

is that of Cesar Chavez himself):

"I think this is where the employer shows the most contempt

for his workers For example, I think growers use short-handle

hoes because they don’t give a damn about human beings, they

look at human beings as implements If they had any consideration

for the torture that people go through, they would give up

the short-handle hoe All that stooping is one reason farm workers

die before they’re fift y.

I remember when I was young, I’d come home, and I’d go to

bed for a little while, and I’d be ready to go. But my dad couldn’t

do that He’d stay there, and sometimes he couldn’t get up to eat

That’s true of a lot of men after they get past thirty-five. I remember

my mom returning from work and going to bed. She

didn’t want to hear or see anything."

Perhaps this quote from César Chávez is the original source.

The book is available in digitized format at: http://chavez.scientech.com/.

Israel Cuéllar

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