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Note #7988 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Immokalee activists win RFK award
03457
October 27, 2003

Immokalee activists win RFK award

3 boycott leaders honored for defending farmworkers' rights

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights has
bestowed its highest honor on three leaders of the Florida-based Coalition of
Immokalee Workers (CIW), sponsors of the first national consumer boycott
endorsed by the Presbyterian Church (USA) in more than 20 years.

Citing their work in the campaign to end forced-labor practices and
sub-poverty wages in farm fields across the United States, the center earlier
this month selected Lucas Benitez, Julia Gabriel and Romeo Ramirez to receive
the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.

The three CIW members are leaders in the national boycott of Taco Bell, a
campaign to call attention to the low wages paid to the people who pick the
tomatoes that go into Burrito Supremes and Gorditos in Taco Bell's 6,500
restaurants nationwide.

"This award brings international attention to the horrendous conditions
within Taco Bell's supply chain and their refusal, thus far, to take concrete
action to ensure their products are not produced with exploited labor," said
the Rev. Noelle Damico, the PC(USA)'s national boycott coordinator.

"The spotlight is not only on the tremendous courage and accomplishments of
these three members of the CIW," Damico said. "The spotlight is also on Taco
Bell and its parent company, Yum! Brands, Inc."

The 214th General Assembly of the PC(USA) has endorsed the boycott, which
aims to pressure Taco Bell to work with its tomato supplier and
representatives of a workers' coalition to improve wages. The denomination
also served as a reference for the workers during the award selection
process.

The annual award was established in 1984 to honor creative people who show
courage in nonviolent efforts to overcome serious human rights violations.
Past winners have come from 18 countries, including South Africa, China,
India, Indonesia and Haiti.

"First of all, it's a huge step forward, not just for the coalition but for
the labor movement in general," Benitez told the Naples (FL) Daily News. "It
also really brings to light that there is much more behind the beautiful
images of the United States and Florida; there is a lot of exploitation
happening here."

The farmworkers will be honored during a ceremony in Washington, DC, on Nov.
20, Robert F. Kennedy's birthday. Damico and the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick,
stated clerk of the PC(USA) General Assembly, plan to attend the ceremony.

It will be the first time the award has been presented to recipients living
and working for human rights in the United States. The award provides a
$30,000 cash prize expected to be used in the work of the CIW.

The three have helped to free more than 1,000 workers held against their
wills by employers using violence including beatings, pistol-whippings,
shootings and the threat of violence, according to an Oct. 15 news release
from the center.

Gabriel herself is a former captive worker. She escaped from a 400-worker
slavery ring that operated in the fields of South Carolina and Florida. With
the help of the CIW, she helped prosecute and put her former employer behind
bars.

The center has honored 34 others for opposing apartheid, genocide and myriad
other abuses. The award reflects Robert Kennedy's opposition to tyranny and
injustice.

"The work of these incredible human rights defenders is pivotal in this day
and era, as it uncovers the ugly truth that modern?day slavery exists in the
United States," said Todd Howland, director of the Robert F. Kennedy Center.
"The practice of slavery has been condemned by the international community,
and the practice has been criminalized in the United States, but it still
persists in parts of the U.S. agriculture industry."

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