“When you go to the same migrant camp that’s mentioned in ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ now, you realize this is the housing. It’s still here. The people that occupy the spaces, that is the same. The struggles are still the same. In some ways, the struggles are worse now for this community because they also have to worry about getting taken from their families and deported.”
Workers at home in the Central Valley after working in the nearby corn fields.
So when I go to these areas, I’m not just starting from zero. A lot of organizations that are working in this community have an interest in helping shed light on what’s going on in that world. During COVID, there was an organization that was just trying to feed people. Because folks literally were not getting enough food because they lost their source of income. They can’t rely on any form of public assistance because they are undocumented. They’ve worked their whole lives in this country, and they are going to starve, right?
So some of these food organizations were like, “We’re delivering food to grandmas. We can introduce you to some of them.” Those types of organizations are always key, and they help introduce you to folks. I would go a lot to community events and not take pictures and just hang out. I think when you’re face-to- face, people can tell whether you care or not. When I spent time with folks, they would see that I had been putting a lot of effort and time into this, that I know about the historical influences on these issues, that it’s something that I’m not just trying to pop in and out of and not invest in them. I think when people see that investment they start giving you access.
THE ROOTED JOURNAL How did you connect with the Central Valley communities you’re documenting in “East of Eden”? BRIAN FRANK I’ve been working on issues like this for quite a long time. Over many years, I’ve built up contacts with the United Farm Workers Union, with individual private farmers, with a broad spectrum of folks.
Part of the migrant caravan. Large numbers of migrants travel together for safety with the hope of arriving in the U.S. and finding a better life for their families and escape from violence. Migrants wait in the rain for food being handed out by the local church at Barretal disco turned into a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico.
Abuela Petra Ramirez in Fresno, CA, toiled in the fields and raised children who became police officers and teachers. Grandmothers are active volunteers in the community and the glue between many generations of Latino immigrants in the Valley and their homelands and traditions. Ramirez has been a Catholic activist for most of her adult life and relies on her faith to bring a message into correctional facilities to pray with inmates and work for positive change.
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ISSUE 01
THE EDEN PROJECT
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