Poverty

This entry speaks to me because I have been involved in community efforts to help end poverty for most of my life. My family and church are big on helping out in our community and I have spent countless hours serving food to the homeless at the Cooperative Feeding Program in Fort. Lauderdale.

An impoverished area I have been to recently is the city of Immokalee. I am writing my senior history paper on Immokalee so I have spent a lot of time researching the area. When driving on Main Street in Immokalee you will see below sub standard housing, mostly of which consists of mobile homes that sometimes hold up to ten people at a time for ridiculous amounts of money. The buildings are mostly all in Spanish and are falling apart. When driving down Main Street there are many people walking around or riding bikes because most of the people who live there do not own automobiles. As you drive further down Main Street you will see the big Tomato Corporations that basically maniuplate and control the migrant population of Immokalee. It is sad that there are people who live in such poor standards, and work for long hours doing laborous work and yet they only make 45 cents for each 32 lb bucket they fill of tomatoes. This is happening in our backyard and yet many people choose to ignore it.

I believe there are many contributing factors to the conditions of Immokalee but I think one of the main reasons is the fact that many of Immokalee's residents are immigrants and they refuse to report abuse and wage gouging becuase they are scared they will be deported back to their countries. They are not aware of the United States' legal system. Corporations take advantage of their helplesness and it becomes a vicious cycle. I believe this is a very important crisis that should be taken more seriously but many people do not bleieve it is our job to help because of the fact that most Immokalee residents are immigrants. I believe it is a question of humanity. There have been many cases of involuntary servitude and abuse. Regardless if they are immigrants or not, it is ethically and morally wrong. The issues in Immokalee interlock with the major crisis of poverty in urban areas of the United States because they are all living under similar condtitions and engaging in low paying jobs.

I believe that hope and success are achievable for the Immokalee community if more people are educated on what is actually going on. The Coalition for Immokalee Workers have been very successful in aiding the migrant population with big wins over corporations like Yum Yum brands, McDonalds, Subway, Whole Foods, and Burger King. Although the money that was promised has not been passed on to the migrants because of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, the CIW is creating a sense of community among the workers and also bringing the issues in Immokalee to the public's attention.