With so much being said and voted upon related to immigration and the lack of empathy for survivors of the human predicament, here are a few words from Leno which may have some bearing on the work of prevention which we all say we want to support:
Our Work
I woke up one day
I knew I was different
my skin was not right
it was sort of off-colored...
well things just seemed
to go on the same each
day and the next
with nothing but little upon
our red table...
I remembered going early
each morning with all
the workers, to some
farmer's fields where
we laughed and we worked
throughout all the sun
till gray setting dusk.
then we all went back
to the truck in our
stooped little shuffle...
a real tired people
going back to dirt little homes
with nothing but little upon
our red table...
to sleep, and then
back to the truck with no
change in the life of these
off-colored people who
speak not like you.
one day those workers
will be buried side by side
in government coffins
and graves
made especially for those
poor little off-colored people.
This poem was written in 1968 when I was working in Colorado's
San Luis Valley. I was frustrated at how farm workers would work all
their (our) lives and have nothing to show for it, nothing but a
government grave.
Find this in -Looking For My Wings- a book by Magdaleno M. Rose-Avila
(Come back later for more from Leno and under comments for updates that
will make you ask: what's changed after all these years? Connie)
Magdaleno "Leno" Rose-Avila
Executive Director
South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice
Office: 786-264-1708
Fax: 786-264-1859
Web: www.sfiwj.org
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