by Eileen Rivera
“Every time you eat a salad, every time you eat a vegetable, you have to realize that this might have been picked by a child.” – Eva Longoria
“In some countries, children work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. In some countries, children twelve and younger pick crops. The United States of America is one of those countries.” These are the opening lines of an eye-opening documentary that follows three adolescents as they travel and work with their migrant farmer families. The children portrayed in the film are in this country legally and some were born here.
First, we meet Zulema Lopez at her 12th birthday party. The next morning finds her grandmother dragging her out of bed and promising that she could sleep in the truck on the way to the fields. Zulema is shown pushing through growth to find the strawberries for which she is paid sixty-four dollars a week. She wishes it were more, but says it helps her family pay the bills. When asked what she dreams about, Zulema responds, “Dreams? I’m still working on those.”
Victor Huapilla, 16 years old, and his family pick tomatoes. They are paid one dollar per bucket, each bucket holds twenty-five pounds of tomatoes, think about that next time you’re in the supermarket. They clean and box the tomatoes before delivering them to the distributor, in effect lifting hundreds of pounds of food twice a day. Their family’s savings have gone towards bringing the older daughters from Mexico, with little left over to finance their travels to new fields offering more work. Victor’s dream is an easier life for his family.
We meet Perla Sanchez, 14 years old, as she is saying goodbye to her friends in school. She laments that she is never able to finish out the school year and admits that she has been retained in the eighth grade because of it. Her school records don’t always make it to her new school in a timely manner causing delays in schoolwork. Perla’s dream is to become a lawyer so she could help people.
Amazingly none of the kids interviewed appear to rebel against the backbreaking work or the constant travel. They see this as a way of life, their life. Their family’s welfare is at the forefront of their thoughts; would that some of our own children put their family ahead of their desire for the latest gadget or sneaker.
The issue of child labor is regulated by state laws, however California Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard has introduced the CARE (Children’s Act for Responsible Employment) Act once again, in an effort to increase the minimum age for agricultural employment to 14. It is the filmmaker’s hope that people will learn what is happening in this country’s agricultural fields and help get this law passed.
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Entertainment and Cultura Editor, Eileen Rivera.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of
the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.
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