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[PCUSANEWS] Companeros en la lucha


From PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>
Date Wed, 30 Jun 2004 13:38:38 -0500

Note #8361 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Companeros en la lucha
GA04067
June 30, 2004

Companeros en la lucha

Leader of Immokalee workers honored at Hispanic-Latino dinner

by Corey Schlosser-Hall

RICHMOND, June 30 - More than 100 people honored Lucas Benitez in English and
Spanish during Tuesday evening's Hispanic-Latino Assembly dinner.

Benitez is a leader of the farmworkers in Immokalee, FL, who are the focus of
the PC(USA)-supported national boycott of Taco Bell restaurants. The aim of
the boycott is to pressure Taco Bell's parent company, Yum! Brands, to push
tomato growers in Florida to raise the piece rate they pay workers for
harvesting tomatoes - 40 to 45 cents for every	32-pound bucket they fill, a
rate that hasn't changed since 1978.

The featured speaker at the event was the Rev. Mauricio Chacon, whose address
was titled, "Politics: A Means to Do Justice."

The eclectic group of Hispanics and Latinos buzzed with fellowship, laughter
and challenge. "We are family, brothers and sisters in Christ," Elder Ricardo
Moreno, chair of the Hispanic-Latino Caucus, said in expressing gratitude to
commissioners, caucus members, synod and presbytery staff, GAC staff and
others who have been supportive of the Presbyterian church (USA)'s
Hispanic-Latino ministries.

The Rev. Jean Marie Peacock, the Assembly's vice moderator, encouraged those
in attendance to continue living into the "vision of a multicultural church -
to cross borders and cultures, and be one in the Church and one in Christ."

Noe Juarez, from the Hispanic Caucus in Synod of Mid-Atlantic, provided music
using four different instruments.

Benitez and two other leaders of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers received
the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for their opposition to
slavery in the farm fields of the United States and their leadership of the
boycott.

Three y ears ago, Benitez said, when he was leading a group of farmworkers to
California for a demonstration at Taco Bell's corporate headquarters, he
called Moreno and said, "We don't know each other, but I need your help. We
need a place to stay for 100 farmworkers."

Within two hours, he said, Moreno had arranged for Immanuel Presbyterian
Church to shelter the workers, "and that's how the Taco Bell boycott got
started."

The PC(USA) was the first church to sign on to the boycott. Since then it has
been joined by the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ), American Friends Service Committee (Quakers and the National Council
of Churches of Christ in the USA, which represents 36 Protestant and Orthodox
communions with more than 50 million members.

Chacon, introduced by Moreno as a "companero en la lucha," or partner in the
struggle, said politics is "a gift from God so that justice can be realized
in the world" and "the way to bring well-being to the people."

Chacon, noting that funding for Spanish-language curriculum was a casualty of
the PC(USA)'s recent budget crunch, urged his listeners to "fight for our
place in the denomination."

"Some of the fault is our own," he said, "because we are hesitant to involve
ourselves in politics. We say no when we are asked to be involved in
committees. ... Fight for the justice of God by living a public life for the
people of God. Know that the spirit of God is with us."

This story and many others may have photos, media, video clips that can be
found at http://www.pcusa.org/ga216

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