The New Harvest of Shame--by Bob Kholos

(Re-posting for Thanksgiving--Original Posting was summer, 2006)

    Not many people know about Arvin, California.   Fewer people know about Salud Zamudio Rodriquez.
    Both jogged my memory today, as I worked my way up I-5, from Los Angeles to Eugene, Oregon.  It was 8:30 in the morning and the temperature had already risen to 85 degrees.
    Arvin is a small agricultural area off the freeway; a little more than an hours drive north of Los Angeles, just prior to the Bakersfield turnoff.
    Not many people notice this town, because drivers are too intent on passing the produce trucks that are carrying the food in transit to your local supermarket.
    Mr. Rodriquez was a farm worker who picked Bell Peppers on a local farm. 
    My mind went back to 1968, when I was working as a reporter for Radio News West, under owner Tom Quinn.  RNW was the audio part of City News Service in Los Angeles.
    When Caesar Chavez was going to break his fast, which was in support of the Grape Boycott and the United Farm Workers, I was sent up to Delano to cover the action.
    Chavez was lying down in front of a huge crowd in a little park.  People were packed in so tightly that it was hard to breathe.  Photographers from the major news services were holding their arms straight up so they could get a good photo over the crowd.
    Then all hell broke lose. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was in a car coming toward the park with his entourage, in support of Chavez.  This was just prior to his announcement that he would be running for President of the United States.
    The crowd started screaming, “Ken-ne-dy, Ken-ne-dy, Ken-ne-dy.”  He was so loved that people started jumping on his car by the dozens.  Finally the soon to be assassinated Senator from New York, got out of his car, and greeted the crowd.
    Reporters pushed our way up to the stage where he held a brief news conference.   I don’t remember his comments, except that I asked him what he was going to do about the situation of farm workers.   He responded in vague terms.  It was a supportive statement, but no new federal legislation would be introduced, as I understood his response.
    Kennedy was so charismatic.  Close up, he looked like a movie star.
Chavez broke his fast and everyone cheered.  It was bedlam.
    Now, 38 years later, as I drove past Arvin, I said a little prayer for Salud Rodriguez.   Last summer, while he was picking Bell Peppers in 105-degree heat, he died from heat stroke, according to Lupe Martinez, who was Vice President of the United Farm Workers.
    There was not enough money for his funeral.
Every time we go to the market under air conditioning and pick a Bell Pepper from the shelf, we should picture ourselves shaking the hand of Mr. Rodriguez and all of the people who toil under very hard conditions to bring us food for our tables. He was 4 years old when Mr. Chavez broke his fast in 1968.
    If our government can’t help the most powerless people in our society, than why have a government?
Thank you for reading.

Bob Kholos

Comments

[Tom Quinn]

Bob -- Can you please contact me? We're talking about a (small) RNW reunion (40 years!) early next year.