NC Farmworkers will march for justice

Because many farm workers in North Carolina suffer indecent living and working conditions, threatened by toxic chemicals and abused by contractors, North Carolina farm worker supporters will join FLOC in a march from Mount Olive to the Capitol in Raleigh to demand change in a system of exploitation.

From June 23 to 26, 1998, FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez will lead farm workers, students, members of North Carolina's faith community, and other socially conscious people from Mount Olive to Goldsboro; from Goldsboro to Smithfield; from Smithfield to Garner; and from there to Raleigh, where the march will end with a rally on the steps of the State Capitol.

To raise community awareness for farm workers' struggle and to encourage the Mount Olive Pickle Company to negotiate a multi-party agreement with FLOC—to benefit of farm workers, farmers and growers, and the company itself—we need your full support.

We need your help: to accompany Baldemar Velasquez for four days and 68.8 miles; to walk with him for part of the way; to provide food and water for the participants of the march; to host Marchers for Justice in Goldsboro, Smithfield and Garner; to volunteer to prepare food and clean places after stops of the march; to help paint signs and banners; to pray for improvement of farm workers' lives. We hope you will find the time and the courage to commit yourself to one or more of these tasks. Are you going to march for justice, too?

Contact Matt Emmick or Daniel Opoku. Write to them at Community Organizers, NFWM, PO Box 461, Benson, NC 27504, or call (919) 894-7241.

E-mail to: MattNFWM@aol.com or to DanielNFWM@aol.com