Bless the Hands that Prepare Our Food (by Onleilove Alston)
During this BBQ season we have to carefully consider what products are apart of our seasonal celebrations. Recently I attended the DC campaign kick-off for the Justice at Smithfield Campaign. "Smithfield Foods is the largest pork processor and producer in the world, the fourth largest turkey processor and fifth largest beef processor in the U.S." In the early 1990's Smithfield opened its Tar Heel, North Carolina plant, with 5,500 workers who slaughter and process 32,000 hogs per day. The Tar Heel plant is not unionized and overall only about 56% of Smithfield pork processing plant employees are unionized.
Though raised in Brooklyn, NY, my family hails from North Carolina which makes this campaign of personal importance to me. At the campaign kick-off two young women testified about mistreatment at the Tar Heel plant. A 22 year-old woman spoke of developing such a serious case of carpal tunnel syndrome that she can no longer lift more than 15 pounds. The testimony of this woman had a profound effect on me because I saw myself in her face. At 22 years-old I was a recent college graduate excitedly planning my future. I did not have to worry about an injury that could leave me disabled for life. If my grandparents remained in North Carolina instead of migrating to Brooklyn, NY, I could have easily been one of the Smithfield workers. What separates me from the workers at Smithfield?
Some of the tasks at the Tar Heel plant include cutting the skin off of frozen meat as it comes down the line, a task that is especially difficult when having to work at breakneck speeds. As stated in the Human Rights Watch report: Blood Sweat and Fear: Workers' Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants:
Many workers have painful reactions to conditions, but they do not act for fear of losing their jobs. In this report one employee is quoted as saying 'I am sick at work with a cold and breathing problems and my arms are always sore. But I am afraid to say anything about this because I am afraid they will fire me.'
Workers have also spoken of sexual harassment and racism. How can working conditions like this exist in our modern society? What is the role of race, class and economics in the Smithfield worker struggle?
As I reflect on the Justice at Smithfield campaign I am reminded of a common request made during the blessing of a meal--"may God bless the hands of those who have prepared our food." As we continue this season of BBQ's let us remember the workers of Smithfield when we bless our meals by asking God to bless their hands and their struggle.
Onleilove Alston is a native of Brooklyn, New York, and serves Sojourners in the Policy and Organizing department as a Beatitudes Fellow. She is a student in the dual M.Div/MSW program at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. In NYC she organizes with the Poverty Initiative and New York Faith & Justice.
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Comments
The working conditions there sounds pretty bad. I try to avoid processed meats, but I'll keep a special eye out for Smithfield.
Posted by: Eric | July 11, 2008 10:13 AM
Ms. Alston
Good article and it will be interesting to see what the people will end up doing in the future.
Your writing as if they had a union these things would not happen. These things happen with or without a union. The MN teachers union is on of the strongest in the nation and they deal with issues like these each and every day.
Maybe they need to look at having a moderator that would work with the company and workers to improve conditions while keeping cost of production down and prohits for the company. This can be done - you just need to think outside the box.
Thanks again for your insights on this subject
Blessings -
.
Posted by: Moderatelad | July 11, 2008 10:24 AM
i just wish as much was said about the tens of thousands of cases of animal mistreatment at this one facility. 32,000 hogs slaughtered PER DAY! amazing that we cannot see the mistreatment of these sentient creatures inherent in seeing them as food rather than as creatures who possess the same "Nephesh" as humans do (at least according to the bible... if you don't believe in the bible, then this does not apply to you). even Pope JPII said in 1990:
"Also the animals possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren. They are the fruit of the creative action of the Holy Spirit and merit respect and are as near to God as men are."
"Animals have the breath of life and were given it by God. In this respect, man created by the hand of God is identical with all living creatures. ... The existence therefore of all living creatures depends on the living spirit/breath of God that not only creates but also sustains and renews the face of the earth."
i am not going to say "meat is murder" but we have to remember that the ideal (as expressed in the creation narratives in Genesis) is vegetarianism. now, God did give permission to eat meat after the flood (Genesis 9) and we know that Jesus at least ate fish (we have no actual record of him eating any other animal) and that Peter was given a vision of all sorts of animals to eat, but when we are gluttons about it (32,000 a day! and a massive obesity problem in this country), as evidenced by the inhumane hormone injections to increase the amount of meat one animal can produce as well as the horrid treatment of many animals who are never allowed to move in their lifetimes as in the case of veal and many egg farms, we commit serious sin against God's creation.
i do hate the mistreatment of workers and i defend human rights, but if we don't defend those without a voice (this goes to all you pro-life people who have left way over 200 comments on Tony Campolo's article from the other day) then we will have much to account for when God asks us how we treated His creation.
-dave
Posted by: dave | July 11, 2008 12:29 PM
Dave makes a good point too. Any operation that slaughters 32,000 hogs a day cannot be treating these animals humanely. I love meat as much as the next guy and I don't think eating meat is immoral in any way, but we are charged by God to be good stewards of his creation which includes animals. The methods used today to raise and slaughter animals are pretty bad.
We'd all do well (and that includes me) to consider more thoughtfully where we get our food and what went into making it.
"this goes to all you pro-life people who have left way over 200 comments on Tony Campolo's article from the other day" hey hey...half of those 200 were left by this RJohnson guy.
Posted by: Eric | July 11, 2008 1:25 PM
I saw the documentary on PBS about this issue. It was brought to the surface while they were doing research to determine if we were at risk for bird flue.
Along the way they discovered how badly the workers were being treated. OSHA has been made lame by the Bush administration. These plants are hardly ever inspected.
IN one instance a woman had her arm broken and a finger dismembered. The factory sent their nurse over to the ER and told her that she had to report back to work for her next shift. Why ?? Because they can risk that a worker who needs to take time off from work will arouse an investigation.
Factories who reported 30-50 incidents of injuries in 2000 now report 0-2. These industries have been allowed to write their own report cards.
If there ever is an out break of bird flue in the US it is most likely we will never know about it because the slaughter house industries are in complete denial about the health and well being of any of the living beings in there responsibility.
A whole foods move into our neighborhood recently so that I don't have to waste much gas to get to it.
I have been eating hormone free for quite sometime because consuming animals raised with them gives me side affects and sometimes make me ill. It is not cheap but, I'm hoping I can make choices that make a difference in the lives of others when I do choose to consume animal protein.
Thank you for sharing this on the blog. I think this needs to be exposed for the safety and well being of all of us.
Posted by: Ms. Cynthia | July 12, 2008 2:59 AM
Living in the middle of Indiana farm country, I have a 700-brood sow 'farrow-to-finish' operation next door to me, and a 2000-steer beef feedlot a half mile on the other side of me.
I understand the human psychology that is involved with the killing of animals for meat. But please, please understand - - in order to feed the nation and the world (which the US pretty much does), killing an animal for butchering must be done quickly and with little time spent on ensuring 'mercy' or a 'humanitarian end' for the beast. Killing 32,000 butcher hogs a day means that the killing lines are running one hog through about every three seconds, 24/7. And it is necessary to do it like that, because in the final analysis, you and I don't want to pay $8.00 a pound for pork chops!! So the killing floor is a bloody place, a noisy place, and the end-goal is a dead piece of meat, not a pig that died with love and mercy in his heart.
Come on, guys. Let's be realistic. This is a nation, a world, of meat-eaters. We want it, we demand it, we insist on it. Vegetarians are few and far between (and, as a personal observation, that is a good thing). So. . . we kill animals in order to eat meat. And we, you and I, want it priced at the best possible price we can get. Therefore, we have to kill it quickly, and get on with the preparation. And quick kills are messy, and sometimes less than perfect.
Any debate over such things as "decency" and "mercy" will be more than overcome by our outrage if our meat doubles in price - - and the price is directly proportional to the efficiency with which the handling is done - - and the handling includes a quick kill, without a whole lot of concern for the final peace of the animal in question.
Posted by: joekc | July 12, 2008 8:26 PM
"Any debate over such things as "decency" and "mercy" will be more than overcome by our outrage if our meat doubles in price...the handling includes a quick kill, without a whole lot of concern for the final peace of the animal in question."
This sounds like one of those issues that offers us a choice: reform the rules and standards to fit what we already practice, or change the way we practice to fit what we know to be standards of respect, decency, and holiness.
The second choice is much harder than the first -- and I wonder if we have the courage and strength to preach it and practice it. Except for the few at the top of the ladder who count their profits, no one benefits as it is.
"Vegetarians are few and far between (and, as a personal observation, that is a good thing)..."
I don't know what personal experience brings you to say this; from anecdote and personal obervation -- not to mention frustrating yet continued effort to "veg" myself -- we'd all be healthier and better positioned to help the hungry if we'd reconsider the necessity of meat on our menues.
Posted by: openeyes | July 12, 2008 11:19 PM
joekc:
"I understand the human psychology that is involved with the killing of animals for meat. But please, please understand - - in order to feed the nation and the world (which the US pretty much does), killing an animal for butchering must be done quickly and with little time spent on ensuring 'mercy' or a 'humanitarian end' for the beast."
i wish people could understand the spiritual aspects involved with the killing of animals for meat rather than just the human psychology. that might keep us from making statement that "in order to feed the nation and the world..., killing an animal... must be done." this is just simply not true. it is far less cost productive to feed people meat rather than using the grains, vegetable, and fruits that the animals eat to feed humanity. it takes 10 times the amount of vegetable/grains/fruit to produce meat that will give us the same amount of energy. meaning, to produce 10lbs of meat it takes (roughly) 100lbs of vegetation. if we just fed humans that 100lbs we could have a far bigger impact on hunger than raising the 10lbs of meat. we DO NOT need meat to survive. there are so many protein options in the vegetable/fruit/grain world that protein is not an argument (seitan, tofu, soy nuts, etc.). it is habit and a denial of the spiritual aspects of the animal kingdom that perpetuates us eating meat. let us not forget that we were created as (or the ideal given to us from the bible is) vegetarians. God gave adam and eve every green plant for food. it is not until Genesis 9 that permission to eat mean is given.
vegetarians are living closer to the ideal given at the beginning than those who eat meat. shouldn't we aim for the ideal rather than take advantage of what we are given permission to do?
Posted by: dave | July 13, 2008 4:59 PM
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