Below is a blog post from one of our 2024 Human Rights Summer Research Grant awardees, Yadira Paz-Martinez, who spent the summer in Clinton, N.C., speaking with farmworkers of various U.S. citizenship status about their experiences in the agricultural industry.
To learn more about the Human Rights Summer Research Grant, click here.
If you drive about an hour and 40 minutes straight south of Duke University, you will run into a small rural conservative town called Clinton, NC, or, as I call it, “home.” With its vast agricultural farms, you will see tobacco, blueberry, blackberries, cucumbers, green beans, and more, harvested throughout the summer. For some, all they will see is produce, but if you look closely, you will see the reality I see. The hands who produce our fuel: the farmworkers. – I learned to understand the agricultural industry at a young age. After running through the furrows of blueberry fields, working in 30-degree weather packing blueberries, and reminiscing about the hog smell seeping through my mother’s shirt after working, I saw a reality not printed on a produce package. I became surrounded by farmworkers from all legal statuses. I learned that despite being a U.S. citizen, my skin color would determine the treatment I received, and that was the reality of the other workers.
As the agricultural industry became my reality, I learned the reality of my people. I watched as farmworkers begged for water, as my mother’s back ached in the summer sun, as young children harvested with their small hands, unable to contain the exhaust. – But the most arrogant aspect on my part was believing that this was and could only be our future.
Working with H-2A, undocumented, and U.S.-born farmworkers, I heard a variety of experiences that made me question how farmworkers from different legal statuses assimilate in the U.S. and build tolerance of abuse and mistreatment stemming from the rural, conservative state of Sampson County, one of the largest agricultural counties in NC.
Coming to Duke, my privileges expanded. In attempts to dissect and “research” the labor of my people, I have realized that these lived experiences are and should be no “research project.” They are stories of suffering in agricultural whiteness that prevents the further progress of my people. A world where they, too, believe farmwork is their only future.
After semesters of contemplating my research progress, I have dedicated time to understanding the historical penetration and foundation of slavery into the agricultural industry and the distinct experiences of H-2A, undocumented, and U.S.-born farmworkers. Before this summer, I researched the historical layout of Sampson County. However, the historical context in books does not represent the lived stories and experiences of the people.
As I continue my research this summer, I have reflected that I must understand the root reason that explains the abusive experiences endured by farmworkers and how these experiences only mirror the exploitative industry, influencing their position in the U.S.
This summer, I started researching a component titled “Agricultural Whiteness,” understanding land segregation and white superiority within the agricultural industry, preventing farmworkers from connecting or acquiring agency over their labor or connection to food. Many (im)migrant farmworkers have had exposure to harvesting in their home country. However, upon arriving in the U.S., the cherished connection vanishes. As the summer progresses, I have begun to explore how the disconnection from the produce and farmworkers creates higher volumes of forced assimilation or the approximation towards being accepted by whites due to fear or retaliation.
Aside from understanding the theoretical component, I am exploring the preservation of generational labor and stories of farmworkers. As farmworkers experience high volumes of abuse, their stories penetrate and impact the path of their children and their assimilation. Understanding how farmworkers have funneled their stories and labor is instrumental to the narrative of the agricultural industry, a side of the cost of the food we never see.
Ultimately, my goal is to share the stories of farmworkers while understanding how their experiences have created complex avenues of assimilating in America and impacting future generations. While I have the privilege of archiving their stories, the work I am completing is not mine. It is the continued labor and perseverance of millions of farmworkers in America.