Speaking Truth To Power

[Omaha Steve]

Uploaded by mswimmer8 on Aug 5, 2008

Written and produced by Melissa Mergner, a 15-year-old high school student, Speaking Truth to Power -- The Story of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, is a short documentary about labor rights activist Baldemar Velasquez and the organization he founded in Ohio in the 1970s. The son of migrant farm workers and influenced by mentors Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez, Velasquez has devoted his life to changing wages and working conditions for farm workers. His organization FLOC represented farm workers in the labor actions against large corporations such as Campbell's, Heinz, and Mt. Olive Pickles. The film intersperses interviews with Velasquez with archival footage as well as photos of farm workers and working conditions in Ohio and North Carolina. Soundtrack by Richard Drueding.

[99th_Monkey]

1. I worked to support UFW's grape boycott in 60s in Portlandia

We were focused on Safeway at the time I believe, and we'd go into a store,
load a shopping cart to over-flowing, including a bunch of NON-Union grapes.

When we got to the check-out, we'd ask the checker "Oh, I need to know ...
are these UNION GRAPES???!!??" No? oh well, sorry, I cannot shop here
anymore until you recognize the UFWs union and carry union grapes.

It was quite effective in creating lots of unwanted mayhem in the stores,
and ultimately to getting a settlements with growers..

[drynberg]

2. Well Done!

Thanks for a good look at Baldemar Velasquez and how he has labored year after year to improve the lives of our farm laborers, who have really gotten and continue to get a friggin' raw deal. VIVA!

[20score]

3. Why isn't this on the main page?

[ProudProgressiveNow]

4. K&R nt

[ReRe]

5. K&R

If there are heroes walking among us, it has to be people like MLK Jr, Chavez or Baldemar Valasquez who devote their lives to helping insure a better life for someone OTHER THAN themselves. It's hard to believe that workers may very well still be treated disrespectfully & be grossly under-paid for their important work.

The one jewel I came away with, one of those you write down and keep, was from MLK: "When you impede the rich man's ability to make money--anything is negotiable." It's that cog, in the gear, in the big machine.