About Me
I'm Tomás Summers Sandoval and this is my blog. I'm an asociate professor of Chicano/Latino Studies and History at Pomona College, the author of Latinos at the Golden Gate(2013), and a generally nice guy. You can learn more about me at my main website.
Tag Archives: Labor
Bracero Stories
Last week, Hector Tobar wrote an interesting piece in the Los Angeles Times on one man’s history as part of the “Bracero Program.” As Tobar adroitly concludes, “Many things have changed in half a century. And many things have not.”
Latino History Month #2
It’s time for your weekly “Hispanic Heritage Month” history lesson, something with a little more significance and less sponsorship than this. Plus, you get for free what hundreds of students have to pay a high-priced college for, and I don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Education, History, Immigration, News, Personal, Politics
Tagged agriculture, chicana, Chicano, farm workers, hispanic, Immigration, Labor, latina, latino, mexican, race, racism
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Happy Labor Day
Every Labor Day, I try to keep in mind those that work so that I may live. This includes everybody who performs what are generally “invisible” tasks in our daily lives, from the workers who pick up my garbage to … Continue reading
Posted in Labor
Tagged agricultural labor, department of labor, farm labor, farmworkers, food, food production, guestworkers, justice, Labor, labor day, labor rights, life, mexican workers
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Racism in the strawberry fields
Those brown bodies are not valued by government or society as embodying the same kind of human being as do white bodies. Their cancer rates are irrelevant; their wombs are collateral damage. Their humanity is dismissed as an appropriate risk and loss in order for us to have big, red strawberries. Continue reading
Posted in History, News, Politics
Tagged bush, Chicano, discrimination, environment, EPA, farmworkers, food, health, hispanic, justice, Labor, latino, methyl iodide, mexican, pesticides, racism, schwarzeneggar, strawberry
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The “Border Beat” (June 24, 2009)
Time for another run-down of some of the Latino-themed stories you might have missed in the last two weeks. Damas y caballeros, the BORDER BEAT! • “Sotomayor & Identity Politics” (The Nation) Just a taste, really, of the buffet that … Continue reading
Posted in News
Tagged border, Chicano, coachella, identity politics, Immigration, Labor, latino, law enforcement, mexican, mexican american, nuyorican, puerto rican, racism, sonia sotomayor, supreme court, utah
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Everyday violence and labor rights
In the United States, the mainstream culture tends to think of itself as free from major forms of violence. We may have murders, abuse, and other manifestations of the violent, but they hardly define the everyday experience of most Americans. … Continue reading
Posted in Labor
Tagged african american, bailouts, Chicano, corporations, crisis, economic crisis, Labor, latino, obama, pain, poverty, violence, work, working class, worry
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Got food? Thank a farmworker.
March 29 – April 4, 2009 is National Farmworker Awareness Week. We demand just living and working conditions for farmworkers and an end to unfair treatment under the law. We demand fairly harvested food. Farm work is the third most … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Immigration, Labor, Politics
Tagged agricultural labor, central american, cesar chavez, Chicano, farmworker, farmworker awareness, food, globalization, guatemalan, hispanic, immigrant, Immigration, justice, Labor, latino, mexican, salvadoran, ufw
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Debugging the Silicon Dream
The California Studies Association is having their annual conference on April 24, 2009 at De Anza College, in Cupertino. The CSA has been around for over 20 years. A lively mix of academics, activists, and public servants, it brings together … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Education, History, Immigration, Labor, News, Politics
Tagged californi studies, california, california dream, california studies association, conference, CSA, cupertino, Education, immigrant services, Immigration, Labor, northern california, progressive, silicon valley, south bay
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Hilda Solis is the Secretary of Labor!!
It is finally official! After two months of delays by the Republicans, Hilda Solis has received the required votes from the Senate to become to head of the U.S. Department of Labor. Testament to her regard within the progressive labor … Continue reading
Posted in History, Labor, Politics
Tagged chicana, Chicano, hilda solis, Labor, labor secretary, latina, obama, poor, pro-labor, unions, working class
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The Oppression We Condone
Imagine a young, college student loading a bong and taking a hit. Then, imagine somewhere else, another person bites into a salad and swallows a small tomato. Neither person thinks they are hurting anyone by their actions. Neither thinks for … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, Labor
Tagged chicanos, drug war, florida, hispanics, human tragedy, Immigration, Labor, latinos, marijuana, mexicanos, mexico, slavery, tomatoes, virtual slavery
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