Well-versed on the subject of migrant labor issues, actress Eva Longoria was shocked to realize the extent that children are used to work on U.S. farms to pick fruits and vegetables. She was introduced to the issue through director U. Roberto Romano, whose documentary The Harvest/La Cosecha, which just came out on DVD, centers on the stories of three young Hispanic children who are among the 400,000 who struggle to work long hours in the fields. She recently called in to talk about the film.
How were you introduced to the film?
I have been a long-time advocate of farm workers and so I’ve been known within the community. I have been with the UFW and a lot of organizations for over ten years. Somebody came to me and asked me to raise the funds to produce this documentary. That’s how I ended up as executive producer of this documentary which humanizes the issue of child labor in the United States.
I was surprised that the children in the film are working here in the U.S. What was your reaction when you discovered that?
The weird thing is that as involved as I am within the community, I myself didn’t realize it was that many children. I knew children were in the field, but I didn’t know that many were in the field. It was even shocking to me and I’m pretty literate on the subject, so it doesn’t surprise me that people don’t know about it. One of the most powerful things we can do as entertainers and producers is to create awareness through film. I was behind the scenes. Roberto Romano was in their homes and in their workspace and pretty much on the front line.
How did he gain people’s trust? The profiles he provides are so amazing and so personal.
It’s very dangerous for these people to come out and speak. It’s by no means an expose. It’s definitely a story told through the eyes of the children who work every day and told through their families. With that comes risk of them losing their jobs and being fired. It was a difficult task to document them because your subjects have to be authentic. He was amazing.
Did you get to meet any of the three children profiled?
I have not yet. It was hard to follow them in the documentary because they move around so much. I mean, they’re constantly migrating. The main tragedy is that they are stuck in a cycle of poverty. They can’t break that cycle because they can’t get ahead in school.
I was surprised at how smart they are.
They were very articulate. They were more comfortable in Spanish, some of them. And some of them were more comfortable speaking English. Children are very honest and very truthful and raw and that really came through in the documentary.
I feel like we’re all complicit in this because we all eat fruit and vegetables. Not buying fruits and vegetables isn’t a solution, but what kind of solutions do you see to the issue?
I know people think it doesn’t affect them because it’s an immigration issue. It’s not an immigration issue. It’s a labor issue and a humanitarian issue. If you’re a human being who consumes produce, if affects you so you should know about this and be a responsible consumer and be educated about where your fruit and produce comes from. In the small ways, you can buy organic because that means the children were not sprayed by pesticides while working. People think the pesticides are safe now but they’re not safe now. They did lower the dose amount that can be sprayed during a certain time, but that dose has been lowered to suit a 160-pound man. The children are still getting three times the amount that their bodies can tolerate. We’ve been trying to pass the CARE act, which prevents children from working in agriculture. Agriculture is the only exempt field. We want to get the children out of the fields and into the schools. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standard Act was passed for that very reason because many of the farms were owned by families but today only one percent of farms are family owned. In 1938, times were different but that law hasn’t changed. The agriculture business has huge lobbyists and is very persuasive in Washington.
To what extent do you think the film will be able to make an impact on legislation?
It’s always been the goal of the film to be used as a political tool. Hopefully, people will now feel some pressure and know that the secret is out. Many people don’t know it’s legal and that it’s happening in our own backyards. We’re hoping that we can create some noise with this film. We screened it at the Department of Labor and I physically want to go door to door in Washington and make sure every Congresswoman and Congressman sees it.
But would legislation really change things?
It would make an impact if it’s enforced. Until we get some kind of comprehension guest worker program – not immigration reform – because there are so many people living in the shadows in industry dependent on migrant workers that we have to call bullshit on the current process and the assumption that these people are taking American jobs because that’s just not true. They are jobs that no Americans want. Many farmers have listed these jobs to people on welfare and they pay minimum wage and no one wants them. What’s wrong with this work? It’s what this country was founded on. It’s the backbone of America.
By Jeff Niesel