Re: New resource: The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Ron for the notice about this great contribution of a book. It will help in trying to put faces to the workers who provide this country with fresh produce and other food items. Most consumers have no idea.

A note about not ordering from Amazon.com:

I urge you to order this book from any other source but Amazon.com. The Humane Society has been working for the past few years, trying to dissuade Amazon from selling Dog Fight videos and other dog fighting related goods and literature through Amazon.com.

Even in the face of the fact that violence towards animals is a precursor to violence towards other human beings, Amazon refuses to discontinue its tacit support of dog fighting, claiming it is upholding "freedom of speech". I and others in this group have been boycotting Amazon for this reason. Perhaps a letter or e-mail to Amazon.com would also help them understand the importance of this issue. However, i is my experience that, if you send your comments to their customer service dept., all you get is the "party line" about freedom of speech.

In the meantime, I will try to find the name and address of an Amazon decision maker with whom this issue can be addressed, and post it here for those who are interested, if that is acceptable. Thanks.

Narda Tolentino

Oregon

-------------- Original message -------------- From: Ron Strochlic <rstrochlic@...>

The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm WorkersRick Nahmias , PhotographerForeword by Dolores HuertaThe images in this book highlight the lives of the men and women who struggle to exist while literally feeding this country. Having traveled over four thousand miles to document California's 1.1 million strong migrant workforce, Nahmias's soulful images and incisive text go beyond one state's issues, illuminating the bigger story about the human cost of feedingAmerica. The Migrant Project includes the images and text of the traveling exhibition of the same name, along with numerous outtakes and an in-depth preface by the photographer. Accompanied by a Foreword from United Farm Worker co-creator Dolores Huerta, essays by top farm worker advocates, and oral histories from farm workers themselves, this volume should find itself at home in the hands of everyone from the student and teacher, to the activist, the

photography enthusiast, and the consumer."Every day in the hot fields of California, hundreds of thousands of farmworkers toil for long hours at low pay to provide fruit and vegetables to feed our nation. Most Americans never see the faces of these hard-working men and women, and know little or nothing about the harsh conditions they endure. The Migrant Project has done an extraordinary job documenting theseworkers' lives. Rick Nahmias's powerful photographs and the beautiful essays of dedicated advocates tell an inspiring story of the farmworkers' historic struggle for the respect, the dignity, and the justice they so obviously deserve."--U.S. Senator M. Kennedy, MassachusettsAvailable at UNM Press: http://www.unmpress.com/Book.php?id=11612288414879and Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0826344070/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8 & coliid=IEI18DGUXDPQ9 & colid=11X9OWDW3R5TB 50% of royalties are donated to farmworker serving organizations.Ron StrochlicExecutive DirectorCalifornia Institute for Rural Studies221 G Street, Suite 204, CA 95616530-756-6555 x16www.cirsinc.org