Bearing Witness

Last October I wrote a blog about why I started Sonoma County Chicken Save as part of our work at Food Empowerment Project.

Since October we have been in front of Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse at least once every month to ensure that those who drive by this slaughterhouse are unable to ignore the lives being taken there.

Over the past year, we have noticed an increase in support from people driving past and even more are stopping by to speak with us.

The one protest we did that we did not promote on social media (meaning the slaughterhouse did not have advance notice to put the barricades up) was the one where two slaughterhouse workers came out and spoke with us.

One worker told us of the horrible conditions in which they work. I also gave this worker my business card, and I was surprised when he called me two days later. He told me about the chemicals that constantly rain upon the workers and of the chickens who are still breathing after they leave the boiling water.

Tuesday night, we participated in Bearing Witness as described by Toronto Pig Save’s founder Anita Krajnc, which was inspired by this quote by Leo Tolstoy,

“When the suffering of another creature causes you to feel pain, do not submit to the initial desire to flee from the suffering one, but on the contrary, come closer, as close as you can to her who suffers, and try to help her.”

In order to prepare for this overall event, I have spent quite some time in the middle of the night and day trying to get an idea of their schedules, which seem to be inconsistent.

Different from what is seen in other places, the chickens are brought here when it is dark. I have not seen them trucked in during the day, but I have seen them bringing the chickens in starting at 11:45pm all the way up to 5:15am.

It is difficult to know if this is because many people are upset when they see thousands of chickens crammed into crates and the feathers blowing in the wind (as I write this I have to recognize that many people are uncomfortable with knowing they are partly responsible for the suffering of the chickens they eat) or if it’s because chickens are more docile at night and it makes them easier to “handle” (i.e. kill).

We arrived at midnight on Tuesday and stayed until 3am. I have been at protests which started at 5am, but this was my first that started at midnight, and I was so comforted by the activists who came to be there at such an odd and early hour. We stationed ourselves in a spot where the truck would have to stop at the red light that is actually on a busy highway, but it is quieter at this hour.

We were able to rush to the side of the truck to be near the chickens. Although to avoid us, one truck driver drove through the red light.

Every truck was different as was the placement of the chickens in the crates—some facing us, some not. But one, who I can still see, was a small chicken lying on her side facing me. I could see her baby blue eye and her exhausted face staring back at me, blinking. She was on her side and looked like she was being crushed.

This is where bearing witness becomes almost unbearable. Watching her look at me and not being able to get her out is one of those situations where you fear losing your sanity because you lack the ability to do anything, much less comprehend why this gentle little bird was about to smell death, experience even more fear, and of course, die herself.

As I sit here now, my heart hurts and my eyes burn from the idea that she was probably gone within hours of me seeing her along with so many like her—thousands of them. The image of her will forever be in my heart and mind.

And all I can tell myself is that at least I was able to tell her (and all of them) how sorry I was and that I loved her. Which I repeated over and over…

More photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153305187261107.1073741836.9151801106&type=3

Thanks to my female comrades for also being out there: Debbie, Sarah Rice, pinky, Lisa Nicholson, all showing their hearts and courage.

Giving back just a little (Update on Food Empowerment Project School Supply Drive 2015)

As a vegan organization, Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.) encourages people who have access to healthy food to go vegan so as to not contribute to the suffering and death of non-human animals. In doing so, we are encouraging people to eat more produce. This makes us responsible to ensure that those who pick our food are treated with dignity and respect (and, well, it is of course what is right), especially since neither the laws nor the corporations are protecting them.

In addition to the work we do to support legislation, regulatory changes, and corporate campaigns to support farm workers, F.E.P. has tried to come up with creative ideas to do more. In 2013, we organized a school supply drive for the children of farm workers, and in 2014 we organized both a food drive and a farm worker appreciation day in Salinas. This year we organized another school supply drive and you gave. You gave a lot! (In fact, we had to rent a HUGE truck to get all of the supplies there, and that did not include the donations from the peninsula or South Bay!)

We organize events such as this to thank farm workers. California farm workers pick fruits and vegetables that are sold all over the country, but these workers are victims of some of the worst abuse that capitalism and racism have to offer.

But this is going to be an inspiring blog about all that we did together. There are links so you can read more about why it is so important to do all we can to make sure that farm workers are seen and protected and that we advocate for their rights.

To organize this event, I actually began in January. I want to thank all of the drop-off locations that agreed to do this early in the year and then went on to promote and gather the school supplies. We could not do this without the generosity of their space and their strong belief in this effort: Center for Employment Training (San José), City of San José, Gilroy Public Library, Girl Scouts of Northern California, La Peña Cultural Center, Marin Humane Society, Pachamama Alliance, Pesticide Action Network for North America, Santa Clara County, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Unitarian Universalist Congregation, and Santa Rosa (Glazer Center).

This was a huge undertaking for a small organization like ours, and my imaginary hat goes off to those who do events like this several times a year.

Our first stop in Watsonville was at a residence where, thanks to Dr. Ann Lόpez, executive director of Center for Farmworker Families, farm workers were already gathering by the time we arrived. According to Dr. Lόpez, the apartment was 1,000 square feet with one bathroom where 16 individuals lived. All of the farm workers we met were from Oaxaca, Mexico.

We handed out backpacks until no one else was in line. While the kids were deciding which ones they wanted (we gave them an option between two), the parents were just wanting them to pick and be happy with what they had. What I did not get to see as I was handing out the backpacks was the joy of the children as they opened the bags up to find supplies inside!

Thanks to Dr. Lόpez, at both locations we were able to express to the families that we did this to thank them for all of their work and all they do to feed us, explaining that we wanted to give back.

We then drove to the second location where we parked again and handed out all of the backpacks and extra supplies until another rental truck from San José showed up. Then we handed out all of those backpacks and supplies, as well.

I was thrilled to be able to speak with some of the teenagers. A number were interested in why we were doing this and what organization we were with. So I explained to them why we were there and that we were doing this to thank their parents and to make sure they know how much we want them to stay in school and to succeed.

The saddest part of it all was that we eventually did run out and we had to turn kids away. I am not saying that because we all did not do enough (we handed out over 300 backpacks – see inventory below), but because there were so many in need.

These are children whose parents are working – in fact, we had to do this after 3pm on Saturday, when they got off of work.

A big thank you goes out to KKUP’s Latin Collective Maria Hernandez and DJ Jimmy Hernandez for allowing me to talk about the school supply drive on the air and promote our drop-off locations in San José.

And a special thank you to the following individuals: Sofia Anaya (Girl Scout Troop 61283), Jocie Bartlett, Jason Bayless, Valerie Belt, Greg Cajina (main co-coordinator in the South Bay), Chris Carco (bought supplies with money raised by SF Vegans), Michelle Chen (for making our video), Katherine Connors, David Crosby, Sandra Gluck, Mark Hawthorne, Jessica Holten (Sjaak’s Chocolates), Jennifer, Knapp, Laura Knapp, Roger Knoren , Donna Lou, Nanette Lopez , Billy Lovci, Cindy Machado, Marisol Morales* (main co-coordinator in the South Bay), Dorinda Moreno, Jonah Nessel, Jan Prater, the Rice family (Sarah, Kipp, and Meg), Hermelinda Sapien,  Teresa Sotelo, SOCO Nexus (those who we share our office space with), Raymundo Talavera, Tonya Talavera and her sons (who drove the U-Haul), the Tamez family, Lani Yoshimura, SF Vegans Group, the Latino Employee Resource Group of PG&E (Kentada Padron , Mario Lopez, Jacqueline Cabanlit), and all of the F.E.P. supporters, volunteers, and donors who supported this effort and all of our work.

Thanks also go out to those who donated to support our work and help cover some of the costs we incurred.

We also gave two backpacks to the cleaning woman who watched us pack the backpacks until 11:30pm for her two children, and we also donated 20 backpacks to the Graton Day Labor Center for the farm worker family members who frequent the Center looking for job opportunities. Thanks to Jesús Guzman and Rosa Gonzalez.

And of course, a BIG thank you to Dr. Ann Lόpez, whose work with these communities has built enough trust for us to be there.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for supporting my vision to give back to the farm workers and show them how much we not only appreciate them, but how we also want to help their children to succeed.  Everyone’s generosity was overwhelming in such a wonderful and lovely way.

Oh, one more thing. We WILL be doing this again next year, and we will need all of your help and more!

Enjoy the pictures**!

I know they made my heart grow (you do not need to be on Facebook to view):
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153286148536107.1073741835.9151801106&type=1&l=fef2bc967b

Thanks to you, here is a sample count of all we collected: 332 backpacks, 185 binders, 106 calculators, 1069 boxes of crayons, 135 colored pencil boxes, 334 erasers, 219 folders, 205 highlighters, and thousands of pens and pencils.

*Thanks to Marisol’s family for helping with some school supplies in the South Bay, included in the packing up photos (Izaiah Anaya, Mateo Anaya, Sofia Anaya , Daniel C. Morales, Gabriel Morales, Javier Morales, Olga Anaya Morales, , Rebecca Morales , Ruth Morales, Sonya Morales, Daniel Morales, Jr., Victor Morales). What a team!

**Thanks to Greg Cajina, Sandra Gluck, Mark Hawthorne, Marisol Morales and Sarah Rice for taking photos.