Ben's Story

Photo: Ben on bass, his son Benjy on maraca eggs and Adrian Vargas on guitar.

By Ben Cadena

I wrote this about a couple of young Chicanas working at local retail grocery stores. I am an old brown trout who played with Flor del Pueblo that warm summer day, August 29,1970 at the Chicano Moratorium. I played the guittarron as we played Pancho Villa and the Police started a riot with the tear gas and clubs. What a welcome, pero asi va. Now I'm back at SJSU after dropping out 43 years ago to join Teatro Campesino.

The Young Women

They take care of other peoples’ kids to make ends meet. They work in retail at creameries and as cashiers in grocery stores that pay minimum wages. They are thankful to have the work, many are turned away and some are let go for being too slow.

This is the fate of those who don’t have legal status in this country, but it is their own countrymen that hire them at minimum wage without checking too closely the legality of their documents. These young women complain that they pay taxes also but get no refund.

According to a couple of young retail workers in local supermarkets, they like the work. Joanie stated “I can pay my college tuition and help my mom with the bills.” She said the flexible hours allowed her to go to classes and she is in the cashier position, which is highly sought after.

Juana the other worker likes the staff but said “I need more hours than the six hours they are giving me daily.” This is done to not pay benefits. She also stated that sometimes “I have to throw away my lunch because there is not enough time to eat.

This is the way of today’s female workers. Take what you can get and be grateful because there is always someone else to take your place. Some people say it doesn’t matter anyway, they are all illegal, but we all benefit from their labor, the working upper-class mothers who can afford child care, those men that don’t like to mow their lawns; we all benefit.

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An Historic Election

A Chance For Change

Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

Waking up this morning was like waking up to a new era. That’s because many of us remember a time when activities were segregated by race, whether going to the movies or riding a bus.

And then yesterday, the biggest racial barrier in American politics was annihilated. By record margins, America elected Barack Obama the first African-American president of the United States.

Hope overcame fear. Ordinary citizens mobilized to change the future. This is the heart of Amnesty International. Since 1961, we’ve held out hope for those enduring injustice, when all hope was lost. And through the power of your collective actions, hundreds of thousands now enjoy greater freedom and a safer, more just world.

A record 131 million people cast their vote and exercised one of the most fundamental of human rights. But as Barack Obama said last night,

"This victory alone is not the change we seek--it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you."

We have a great opportunity. The world faces overwhelming human rights crises. But with your help, we can turn this country’s policies on human rights back in the direction of alleviating, and not contributing, to these crises.

President-elect Obama has promised to restore the rule of law, to repair America’s damaged perception in the world, to close Guantánamo, and to renounce torture.

These promises bring hope. In the coming days, we will need you to help make those promises a reality.

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