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Each year since 1984, the Robert F. Kennedy
Memorial Center for Human Rights gives an award to courageous
activists somewhere in the world.
The past winners are a diverse collection of men and
women who fought against most every conceivable injustice
that infects the human spirit.
Among them are Salvadoran mothers who protested torture,
a Polish newspaper editor who assailed communism, a
Korean dissident who promoted democracy, a Kenyan lawyer
who represented political prisoners, a Chinese astrophysicist
who demanded civil liberties and an Israeli who worked
for peace in the occupied territories.
In 1996, the RFK center had to give its prize anonymously
to an activist from Sudan. The fear was that disclosing
the person's identity might necessitate a posthumous
presentation.
This year was a little different, too: Three Floridians
won -- and largely for leading a campaign against Taco
Bell.
It was the first time U.S.-based activists claimed the
honor. Americans are quick to associate human rights
abuses with faraway places and renegade states. But
the RFK award winners are reminders of the injustice
that goes on down the road, in the shadows of suburbia
and middle-class comfort, where farm workers still toil
under disgraceful conditions.
Lucas Benitez, Julia Gabriel and Romeo Ramirez are members
of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group that
organized in 1996 to promote reforms in Florida's fields.
The CIW has grown to more than 2,000 members, and the
RFK awards presented last week in Washington recognize
its growing national impact.
Which is where Taco Bell comes in. Three years ago,
the coalition tried to persuade the chain of about 7,000
restaurants to accept a deal that would improve the
lives of farm workers. Taco Bell buys huge quantities
of Florida tomatoes, and if it would agree to pay one
penny more for each pound and let the penny pass to
the pickers, the workers could double their salaries
and earn a living wage.
The plan's added cost to restaurant customers would
be undetectable -- about a quarter-cent per taco. But
the difference for pickers -- who earn about 40 cents
for every 32-pound bucket picked and average about $7,500
a year -- would be life-changing.
The company steadfastly has refused the deal, and the
CIW steadfastly has pressed it. Taco Bell boycotts have
spread throughout the country, particularly near college
campuses. The RFK center calls it "one of the fastest-growing
social justice movements in the U.S. today."
But what made the three coalition members shoo-ins for
the awards were their heroic efforts to expose and convict
employers who enslaved workers in the fields. Four years
ago, Mr. Benitez, one of CIW's founders, helped federal
authorities convict employers and free 30 tomato pickers
held in an isolated swamp outside Immokalee, northeast
of Naples. The men were beaten and threatened if they
tried to leave.
In 2000, Mr. Benitez investigated slavery in the citrus
groves of Lake Placid, north of Immokalee, involving
more than 700 workers. Mr. Ramirez volunteered to work
undercover to provide evidence for federal agents. Last
year, two field bosses were convicted, sentenced to
34 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $3 million
in assets. A Guatemalan who started working in the country's
coffee plantations when he was 8, Mr. Ramirez endured
threats on his life to get the prosecutions. Farm workers
turn up floating in Florida canals all the time. He
could have been another.
Ms. Gabriel is a Mayan from Guatemala who grew up speaking
the indigenous language of Mam. She dedicated herself
to human rights issues after being held captive in South
Carolina fields with hundreds of other workers. Gunmen
kept them under armed guard, and employers woke them
each morning at 4 with gunshots. She escaped with six
friends after watching the brutal public beating of
a co-worker.
Mr. Benitez, 27, a Mexican who immigrated to the U.S.
a decade ago, has been called the "Cesar Chavez
for the new millennium" by El Diario in New York.
Three years ago, he won Rolling Stone magazine's Brick
Award as the nation's top young community leader. He
says the $30,000 award from the RFK center, and its
new partnership with the CIW, will help heighten awareness
of problems the nation is used to ignoring.
"It's a tremendous support," he said, "and
a recognition that human rights are still being violated
in the United States."
You don't have to go all the way to Sudan or China to
confront injustice -- or even slavery. Think about that
the next time you bite into a chalupa.
dan_moffett@pbpost.com
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