Salt of the Earth

The movie, Salt of the Earth, stimulated some great personal thoughts and class discussions. This movie was filmed in 1953 by a group of "blacklisted" professionals working in the Hollywood film industry. The film tells a story of a small mining community faced with a variety of social challenges that were rooted by the abuse and misuse of power. Salt of the Earth delivers a powerful message that reinforces that humankind are resilient, and they can fully overcome dominating and oppressive forces by organizing as a community and freeing one self from conventional roles. Watch the Salt of the Earth

Professor Catherine Lavender of The College of Staten Island of The City University of New York prepared a small write up on Salt of the Earth for one of her classes in 2000. Professor Lavender reviews some of the socio-political dynamics during the 1950's. I was shocked to read about "Operation Wetback," which was a government program that deported "illegal" Mexican immigrants. Now, does anybody remember the ICE raids in California and other parts of the country? ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is made of "fugitive response teams" who justify their behaviors by deporting undocumented immigrant "criminals." However, this has not been the case with the raids and innocent people have been detained by ICE. Families have been separated, and loved ones (especially children) have witnessed armed agents come into their homes (a place of sanctuary and safety) and use aggression and violence to detain their family. I imagine this would be very scary and a traumatic experience. How long is history going to repeat itself? How do the people in power continue to get away with dominating the masses? Fear might have something to do with it. And, I believe it's our culture of comfort and apathy that also contributes to socio-political passivity.

Accion Zapatista

To leave this on a positive note and offer some hope on this matter, I would like to introduce a group of local activist and community organizers ~ Accion Zapatista (AZ). AZ has been committed to working with people on a grass roots level. They empowered the local families in Humboldt County, who have been impacted by the ICE raids. AZ and the survivors of the ICE raids raised money so they can be represented in court. Also, AZ has put on various cultural events to promote healing in the Mexican community of Humboldt County and generate action and activism locally.

To get learn more about AZ visit their website by clicking the image below.