The Morality of Politics of Justice back to Humanities blog...
The Fruits (and Veggies) of Modern Slavery in America by Emily Wieser
I have a deep concern with how the free market and global economy create an injustice when producing the food we consume everyday. As a teenager, I absolutely love food; it’s on my mind about every other second. Yet the United States agricultural industry, at its finest, is so corrupt that I question how I engage with the industry every day. Modern day slavery is a problem that exists within our present world, with 57,000-63,000 people enslaved in the U.S alone (Walk). Depending on what or where you eat, there’s a fat chance you may be supporting its growth in America.
America’s Free Market economy is enslaving agricultural workers by forcing U.S farms to compete with global prices. This has created widespread corrupt and illegal employment practices throughout the nations produce farms.
Recent accounts of modern slavery include the story of Antonio Martinez, whom had been promised a well-paying job in America. Yet when he arrived after the journey from his home nation, he found that he had been sold for 500$ to the owner of a tomato farm. Martinez explains the inhumanity of this transaction: “I realized I had been sold like an animal without any compassion”(Kloer). Many stories like this are untold, and Martinez was one of the few lucky people to escape situations such as indebtedness and imprisonment that shackles thousands to agricultural fields. In the tomato fields, slaves often work 10-12 hours per day, and are paid less than two pennies for each pound of tomatoes they pick. Other accounts of agricultural slavery involve death threats, labor camps, pistol whippings, and illegal deductions of wages (Heuval).
Modern slavery in U.S agriculture can be explained through a system called a supply chain. Supply chains begin with major corporate buyers. Major corporate buyers are supermarkets, fast food chains, and food service companies who buy large amounts of produce as part of their business. Their demand creates leverage for buying power, and corporations force low prices from the farms that sell the produce. In turn, this is consequentially forcing bad working conditions, low wages, and modern slavery onto workers (Kloer).
You may ask, why so much pressure? The answer is that the U.S economy is a global one. Meaning, U.S farm produce prices must compete with large production farms in other countries, where workers are plentiful and wages are zero to none. Martin Kaste, an NPR journalist, writes in an article about labor wages in apple fields: “The fact is American apple producers are under intense pressure to keep costs low, because of cheap apples and juice from places like Chile and now China”(Kaste). America’s Free Market allows for corporations to force an ultimatum onto U.S farms: Lower produce prices, or lose your business. This makes farms compete on a global scale, and consequentially plants the seed for modern slavery in American agriculture.
Many victims of this slavery are immigrants from places like Mexico and South America. Undocumented or not, slavery is still an issue that attests not only to the violation of human rights but also to American unemployment rates and immigration laws. There’s this idea that if undocumented workers who currently occupy agricultural jobs were forced to leave, unemployed Americans would fill their shoes. In Washington, apple farms show something different. Farmer Bob Brody thinks that hiring American citizens to do the job is illusory, even if job opportunities are plentiful. “They won’t do it,” he says, “talk to any grower” (Kaste). Americans state that they are unwilling to work such hard labor for pay that’s sometimes lower than minimum wage. This reasoning explains the lack of interest in going after immigrants’ jobs (National).
The solution is to alter America’s agricultural position in the free market and economy so that produce farms are not compelled to pay low unsustainable wages and enslave farmworkers. This would be done through taxing major corporations for buying non-American produce. In doing this, it would discourage big corporation buyers from instigating global competition, and instead encourage them to turn to U.S farms for supply.
Enacting these taxes could create massive hypothetical benefits. Less pressure to enslave workers would mean less human trafficking. With major corporate buyers turning towards U.S farms, supply and demand would increase, creating expansion and opening new job opportunities. Farms would pay higher wages due to the sudden boom in business, which would attract American citizens to work in the fields and possibly lower unemployment rates. Immigrants would be able to better support themselves instead of leaning on American tax dollars for help. All in all, the American economy would reap benefits, while creating justice and consideration for farmworkers.
It’s sad that something as horribly simple as slavery still exists in America today, something that every citizen unknowingly propagates, especially considering our past history as a nation. Amendment 13 of 1865 states specifically: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Taking Amendment 13 into consideration, the government is obligated to adjust the practices of big money corporations and fulfill its promises of justice to enslaved farmworkers.
Equality and fairness must be found for those enslaved. In not doing so, we are not only violating the constitution but as John Rawls, a philosopher who based his beliefs on equality, said: “Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty...” (Rawls, 60) When our nation was first born, we concluded that the most basic liberty known to man was freedom, and in today’s American society, some have been oppressed from that same basic need. Only through freedom and equality can these agricultural slaves find justice, and only though a change in the American economy and free market, can that happen.
Click for Work Cited Here...
America’s Free Market economy is enslaving agricultural workers by forcing U.S farms to compete with global prices. This has created widespread corrupt and illegal employment practices throughout the nations produce farms.
Recent accounts of modern slavery include the story of Antonio Martinez, whom had been promised a well-paying job in America. Yet when he arrived after the journey from his home nation, he found that he had been sold for 500$ to the owner of a tomato farm. Martinez explains the inhumanity of this transaction: “I realized I had been sold like an animal without any compassion”(Kloer). Many stories like this are untold, and Martinez was one of the few lucky people to escape situations such as indebtedness and imprisonment that shackles thousands to agricultural fields. In the tomato fields, slaves often work 10-12 hours per day, and are paid less than two pennies for each pound of tomatoes they pick. Other accounts of agricultural slavery involve death threats, labor camps, pistol whippings, and illegal deductions of wages (Heuval).
Modern slavery in U.S agriculture can be explained through a system called a supply chain. Supply chains begin with major corporate buyers. Major corporate buyers are supermarkets, fast food chains, and food service companies who buy large amounts of produce as part of their business. Their demand creates leverage for buying power, and corporations force low prices from the farms that sell the produce. In turn, this is consequentially forcing bad working conditions, low wages, and modern slavery onto workers (Kloer).
You may ask, why so much pressure? The answer is that the U.S economy is a global one. Meaning, U.S farm produce prices must compete with large production farms in other countries, where workers are plentiful and wages are zero to none. Martin Kaste, an NPR journalist, writes in an article about labor wages in apple fields: “The fact is American apple producers are under intense pressure to keep costs low, because of cheap apples and juice from places like Chile and now China”(Kaste). America’s Free Market allows for corporations to force an ultimatum onto U.S farms: Lower produce prices, or lose your business. This makes farms compete on a global scale, and consequentially plants the seed for modern slavery in American agriculture.
Many victims of this slavery are immigrants from places like Mexico and South America. Undocumented or not, slavery is still an issue that attests not only to the violation of human rights but also to American unemployment rates and immigration laws. There’s this idea that if undocumented workers who currently occupy agricultural jobs were forced to leave, unemployed Americans would fill their shoes. In Washington, apple farms show something different. Farmer Bob Brody thinks that hiring American citizens to do the job is illusory, even if job opportunities are plentiful. “They won’t do it,” he says, “talk to any grower” (Kaste). Americans state that they are unwilling to work such hard labor for pay that’s sometimes lower than minimum wage. This reasoning explains the lack of interest in going after immigrants’ jobs (National).
The solution is to alter America’s agricultural position in the free market and economy so that produce farms are not compelled to pay low unsustainable wages and enslave farmworkers. This would be done through taxing major corporations for buying non-American produce. In doing this, it would discourage big corporation buyers from instigating global competition, and instead encourage them to turn to U.S farms for supply.
Enacting these taxes could create massive hypothetical benefits. Less pressure to enslave workers would mean less human trafficking. With major corporate buyers turning towards U.S farms, supply and demand would increase, creating expansion and opening new job opportunities. Farms would pay higher wages due to the sudden boom in business, which would attract American citizens to work in the fields and possibly lower unemployment rates. Immigrants would be able to better support themselves instead of leaning on American tax dollars for help. All in all, the American economy would reap benefits, while creating justice and consideration for farmworkers.
It’s sad that something as horribly simple as slavery still exists in America today, something that every citizen unknowingly propagates, especially considering our past history as a nation. Amendment 13 of 1865 states specifically: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Taking Amendment 13 into consideration, the government is obligated to adjust the practices of big money corporations and fulfill its promises of justice to enslaved farmworkers.
Equality and fairness must be found for those enslaved. In not doing so, we are not only violating the constitution but as John Rawls, a philosopher who based his beliefs on equality, said: “Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty...” (Rawls, 60) When our nation was first born, we concluded that the most basic liberty known to man was freedom, and in today’s American society, some have been oppressed from that same basic need. Only through freedom and equality can these agricultural slaves find justice, and only though a change in the American economy and free market, can that happen.
Click for Work Cited Here...
Artist Statement:
My political campaign poster represents my perspective on agricultural modern slavery, which is how the agricultural corporations deceive the public and create injustice through enforcing modern slavery.
The quotes I integrated into my visual piece exemplify my perspective on the injustice that’s occurring within the agricultural industry. I had two quotes, one by John Rawls about how each man is deserving of the most basic liberties and the other one being Amendment 13. I think both quotes tie into the visual nicely because liberty, freedom, and equality are words that are strongly tied into the topic of slavery. There was a strong relation between that component of justice and the image of the hand with the shackles and chains on my poster.
The symbolism that I incorporated into my visual was definitely the shackles and chains. It wasn’t very abstract symbolism in that sense, and was instead very direct and literal. This added to the power of the image in my opinion, because it presented an old, prosaic view of slavery and applied it to the modern world in a very direct and truthful way. The symbolism was self-explanatory, and I wanted the audience to realize the severity of the issue. There was also a little bit of symbolism in the gold bracelet I put on the Caucasian women. I wanted a little detail that some people could catch. The bracelet represents socialized privilege and ignorance.
The pathos is fairly evident within my poster as well. I used irony by using the quote “from our hands to yours” as well as implying emotion through the slave with chains giving the women some orange juice. It’s a little startling and confusing because you wonder why a man in shackles is giving a woman orange juice. Hopefully it sparks curiosity. I used ethos in my other two quotes, because one is by John Rawls, whom is a famous philosopher, and the other being Amendment 13 from the constitution. Both of these sources have a profound amount of solidity and are intellectually distinguished in our society.
The tone of my poster surrounds irony. It’s a very serious subject, but it’s drawn in a cartoonish style, with bright colors, and an object (orange juice) that’s usually associated with positively charged activities like eating breakfast on a sunny Saturday, or having your children drink it before school. The chains and the skin color create a twisted sense of what’s actually really going on. It’s supposed to mimic a company’s advertisement for a product, and then put a dystopian effect on it.
Lately I’ve been drawn in by simplistic art and how messages are conveyed through simple nuances in a piece of artwork. I wanted to integrate that simplicity into mine as well. My image is very clean, and I wanted only the most important elements of my perspective to be highlighted. I chose to put the quote by the ag. corps above because that’s usually where captions/subtitles on T.V and advertisements are placed. The quotes looked the most balanced above the hands and below the caption. I made some words larger in the quotes because I wanted to emphasize that part of the message to direct the audience towards what the poster was about.
I refined my poster by moving the quotes around to see where they would best fit. They were originally below the hands but they were off center so I placed them above. Another piece of refinement was how I added contrast and saturation to the hands. Originally everything was paler and had less color, (if you look at the original). Lastly, I placed the quotes next to each other so they look organized, and emphasized some words over others with larger font to create a little bit more of an organic shape. Spice it up a little bit.
My political campaign poster represents my perspective on agricultural modern slavery, which is how the agricultural corporations deceive the public and create injustice through enforcing modern slavery.
The quotes I integrated into my visual piece exemplify my perspective on the injustice that’s occurring within the agricultural industry. I had two quotes, one by John Rawls about how each man is deserving of the most basic liberties and the other one being Amendment 13. I think both quotes tie into the visual nicely because liberty, freedom, and equality are words that are strongly tied into the topic of slavery. There was a strong relation between that component of justice and the image of the hand with the shackles and chains on my poster.
The symbolism that I incorporated into my visual was definitely the shackles and chains. It wasn’t very abstract symbolism in that sense, and was instead very direct and literal. This added to the power of the image in my opinion, because it presented an old, prosaic view of slavery and applied it to the modern world in a very direct and truthful way. The symbolism was self-explanatory, and I wanted the audience to realize the severity of the issue. There was also a little bit of symbolism in the gold bracelet I put on the Caucasian women. I wanted a little detail that some people could catch. The bracelet represents socialized privilege and ignorance.
The pathos is fairly evident within my poster as well. I used irony by using the quote “from our hands to yours” as well as implying emotion through the slave with chains giving the women some orange juice. It’s a little startling and confusing because you wonder why a man in shackles is giving a woman orange juice. Hopefully it sparks curiosity. I used ethos in my other two quotes, because one is by John Rawls, whom is a famous philosopher, and the other being Amendment 13 from the constitution. Both of these sources have a profound amount of solidity and are intellectually distinguished in our society.
The tone of my poster surrounds irony. It’s a very serious subject, but it’s drawn in a cartoonish style, with bright colors, and an object (orange juice) that’s usually associated with positively charged activities like eating breakfast on a sunny Saturday, or having your children drink it before school. The chains and the skin color create a twisted sense of what’s actually really going on. It’s supposed to mimic a company’s advertisement for a product, and then put a dystopian effect on it.
Lately I’ve been drawn in by simplistic art and how messages are conveyed through simple nuances in a piece of artwork. I wanted to integrate that simplicity into mine as well. My image is very clean, and I wanted only the most important elements of my perspective to be highlighted. I chose to put the quote by the ag. corps above because that’s usually where captions/subtitles on T.V and advertisements are placed. The quotes looked the most balanced above the hands and below the caption. I made some words larger in the quotes because I wanted to emphasize that part of the message to direct the audience towards what the poster was about.
I refined my poster by moving the quotes around to see where they would best fit. They were originally below the hands but they were off center so I placed them above. Another piece of refinement was how I added contrast and saturation to the hands. Originally everything was paler and had less color, (if you look at the original). Lastly, I placed the quotes next to each other so they look organized, and emphasized some words over others with larger font to create a little bit more of an organic shape. Spice it up a little bit.