Let's all be Tom Joads

[sufrommich]

Harsh Realities in a Country gone Mad with Greed
This is one of those stories that will seem so unbelievable, so beyond the pale, so, well, un-American, you might be tempted to either disregard it completely or cast it in a fictional light in order to escape the obvious conclusion: There are horrors perpetrated on human beings in this country that rival those in the worst of the worst of any third-world country.

Everything that happens in this story happens because the ones with the power could not, would not, control their greed. Everything that happened to these people happened because there was nobody looking out for them. The perpetrators knew they were living in an era where laborers were a dime a dozen. If one died off, there were plenty more where they came from. And the best part of their scheme was that, because most of these people were here illegally, nobody would be the wiser. Nobody would care. Least of all, the government.

This is the story of the cruel exploitation of produce pickers, but it didn't happen in the 1930s of Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" or in the "Harvest of Shame" 1960s before Cesar Chavez began to organize migrant farm workers. It happened--and is happening--right here, right now, under our watch, in the 21st Century.

http://ramonasvoices.blogspot.com/2009/03/harsh-realities-in-country-gone-mad.html

[zeemike]

1. Amen to that.

one of the great characters from a great American author.
But Tom Joad never won and his life and family was destroyed because he was way outnumbered.
that just could be different this time.

[sufrommich]

2. I like to believe that Stienbeck's whole purpose for

The Grapes Of Wrath was that it be different this time.

[zeemike]

3. Well it did raise the conciseness of many people.

Including me that was never taught just what happened to people in the 30s