Coalition of Immokalee Workers
McDonald's Truth Tour 2006:
The Real Rights Tour!
Join our low-traffic email list for the latest updates from CIW:
THE REAL RIGHTS TOUR - DAY FIVE
CENTRAL LEG: CHICAGO, IL
| 1:45am - Day four hasn't quite ended yet, as members of the central leg's team is up late coordinating logistics and finishing yesterday's update. | Later into the night, Luis takes charge of cranking out stacks of copies for the next day's flyering. The last members of the tech team leave the office by 4:30am and make it to bed (floor) by five. |
After a (very) short night's rest, the central leg team is up early and ready to hit the road for a day of presentations and flyering. | In addition to stacks of flyers, we haul along thirty pounds of rice to help demonstrate the weight of the tomatos that the CIW's members have to haul in the fields. The first lift may not be too hard, but after 125 buckets in 95 degree heat, well, would you want to give it a go? |
Our group subdivides into smaller groups- here a panel of workers and supporters speaks to students at Manley High School... | The students at Manley had a chance to watch a screening of the NOW documentary on the Taco Bell Victory that aired on PBS. |
Meanwhile, other members of the Central crew headed over to LaSable Highschool to speak to some of their seniors... |
... and then to North Park University Theological Seminar... |
and finally to Northwestern University, where students took their turns testing out the weight of a loaded tomato bucket. | Across town, students were feeling that same weight when members of a social action club at Christo Rey highschool invited CIW members to speak to their group. |
Even the students that were able to lift the buckets agreed that while it might be fun to lift just one, none of them would want to be sweating in the fields doing it all day. | After our presentations, we took to the streets in Pilsen with our flyers to remind neighborhood residents that our march would be starting there on saturday. |
| Some of our flyering crew were interviewed by reporters from Radio Arte- they were asking people on the streets about the hot topic of immigration reform, which of course is relevant to the plight of the farmworkers that pick our food. In the background are the unmistakable golden arches at 18th St. and Blue Island, where we'll all be converging at 9:30am on saturday to begin our march downtown. | As our day wound down, we were reunited with our friends from the East and West legs of the tour. We'd missed them greatly, but know that they were out doing very important work along their respective paths. (check below for links to reports from their routes) |
| Our friends from Son del Centro came all the way from Santa Ana, CA to show their support. Their great Son Jarocho sounds were an even greater boost to our spirits. A few rough sound clips are here:
| And finally it was time for bed, as we need to rest up for two big days of action! |
For more photos from day 5's central leg, click here. For the report from the East leg, click here. For the report from the West leg, click here. |
