Modern Day Slavery Exhibit this week in NYC
- Topics:
- Blog, Organic Food & Farming
Monday, August 2nd, 2010, 2:15 PM
Slavery is thought to have ended more than a century ago – but in fact, for agricultural workers in Florida, contemporary slavery still exists.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), an amazing community-based group that fights for farmworkers, has put together a Modern-Day Slavery Museum exhibit to call attention to this issue.
The centerpiece of the museum exhibit is a box truck outfitted as a replica of the trucks used to enslave tomato pickers in a brutal case (prosecuted in federal court in 2008). The truck was developed in consultation with workers who have escaped from slavery operations, as well as leading academic authorities on labor history and the subject of forced labor. The CIW has aided the DOJ in the prosecution of 6 farmworker slavery operations, leading to the liberation of well over 1,000 workers. A federal indictment for the 8th case of farmworker slavery to happen since 1997 was just unsealed this month.
The truck and the accompanying multimedia exhibit look at the history of forced labor, why it continues to occur, and the solution that is being forged to pull slavery up by its roots.
The exhibit is traveling throughout the northeast and is here in New York City this week:
Monday, August 2
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Ave.
10am – 9pm
Tuesday, August 3
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
10am – 9pm
Wednesday, August 4
Middle Collegiate Church
50 E. 7th Street
10am – 9pm
