Undefeated

10/25

Session meets early. Anxieties rising. It’s easy to look ahead and see the wall. Like the one on the Mexican border or between Israel and Palestine. Or at the 20 mile mark of any marathon. That’s what it feels like. We have resources. The question is how to use them wisely to build towards a future. We all feel a bit done in by meeting’s end.

The cast of Othello is hard at work preparing for next week’s workshop performance.

My son is heading to Phoenix for a week so there’s a family brunch before he goes.

The NMASS band

Tonight the National Movement Against Sweatshops NMASS) , the SWEAT campaign, Sweat Shop Free Upper West Side and Justice Will Be Served gather at West-Park for a party celebrating their recent victories against Domino’s Pizza and Indus Valley. Even though that last one took six years, the reality is that NMASS and the SWEAT coalition is undefeated against the big corporate players.  It’s a pretty impressive record for a group of grass roots workers in an exemplary Chinese- Latino coalition to have never fought a losing battle. The focus now is on Governor Cuomo.

Gov. Cuomo

When I get up to speak,

JoAnn  tells me to watch my time because everything has to be translated into Spanish, Mixtecoe Fujian Chinese. You have to love it. The table is laden with Chinese and Latino foods. The evening begins with the NMASS band playing some original protest songs. When I speak, I welcome them to our church, our house, nuestra casa es su casa…and remind them that they are undefeated…and will be undefeated because the cause is just and right.

Pastor Heidi and I laugh about when Domino's went after us. And we talk about the next steps in our community wide food justice work . I watch the people dancing, all shapes and sizes, that wonderful spirit that transcends class, shape, age or color. Then dj’s lights are flashing. The Latin beat pulsing…la lucha sigue…

 

Carlos and the NMASS leadership and Pastors Bob and Heidi