Sojourner Truth presents: Memorializing Nichelle Nichols + the 355 mile March for Farmworkers Rights

Sojourner Truth Radio

Nichelle Nichols died of heart failure on Saturday July 30th in Silver City NM. She was 89 years old. Nichelle Nichols first appeared on Star Trek on Sept 8, 1966 as Lt. Nyota Uhura. She was one of the first Black women to have a leading role on TV according to the NYT. Star Trek was on TV from 1966 to 1969, but the show remains popular and iconic and Nichelles Uhura remains beloved by fans all over the world. Nichelle appeared in 66 episodes of Star Trek. According to the NYT, In 1977 she became an ambassador of sorts for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), she later spoke of her pride in recruiting the first Black and woman astronaut hopefuls. Her efforts resulted in over 2,600 women and people of color applicants. In 2012 she was a keynote speaker at the Goddard Space Center. Our first guest is Lawrence Ware, Co-director of Oklahoma State University African Studies Program and a contributing writer to Slate, the NYT, The Root. Commentary on race and politics have appeared in the Huffington Post Live, on NPR and TV One. Without the labor of farm workers the food supply chain in CA the nation and countries the US is trading with would be interrupted. Immigrant farm workers make up an estimated 73% of agriculture workers in the United States today. Farm labor is absolutely essential work that puts food on our tables across the country, powers the economy and supports our communities, from dairy farms in Wisconsin to strawberry fields in Florida and apple orchards in Washington. Begun in 1962 by Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Gilbert Padilla, and other early organizers, the United Farm Workers of America is the nations first enduring and largest farm workers union. The UFW continues organizing in major agricultural sectors, chiefly in California. Through a series of marches, national consumer boycotts, and fasts, the United Farm Workers union attracted national headlines, gained labor contracts with higher wages and improved working conditions, galvanizing the Chicano movement. The struggle of farm workers for their rights, and better wages and living conditions continues today. And now, the United Farm Workers(UFW) union is set to embark on a 24-day, 335-mile march from Delano to Sacramento to urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign the CA Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act (AB 2183) introduced by Assembly member Mark Stone, a Democrat from Santa Cruz, CA. that would permit farmworkers to vote from home giving farm workers protection from intimidation in elections to choose a union. Farmworkers and their supporters are set to arrive at the state Capitol on Aug. 26, a few days before the legislative session draws to a close. The trek kicked off this Wednesday August 3rd at the farm workers historic Forty Acres complex in Delano, where the union began 60 years ago in September 1962. It ends at the state Capitol on August 26th. The march route traces the path of the historic Cesar Chavez-led 1966 peregrinacion or march, procession style, that first brought the farm workers grievances" which included: exposure to deadly chemicals, inadequate food and shelter, and sexual harassment, while receiving meager wages" before the nations conscience. We speak to Elizabeth Strater the strategic campaign director for the UFW.