Testimonials of Bracero Workers and Employers
The first set of testimonials is former Bracero Worker Rafael Morales and an employer of Bracero workers in the Sonoma County, Talmadge "Babe" Wood. Sonoma County is a county in Northern California known for their infamous winery. Before they were developed into what they are today, like most parts of the United States during World War II they experienced extreme shortages on farmers to work on their farmland. Out of the many ranchers in Sonoma County, it is said that Wood was most likely the first rancher to hire Bracero Workers in the county. The following videos share the perspective and story of an employer and employee of the Bracero program.
Other Bracero Workers such as Fausto Ríos share their perspective with as an approach to reveal the injustice and racism behind the program. Ríos shares in his testimonial that he was adamant and prevent himself from sharing his life as a Bracero. Although the initial focus of people who participated in the program did it to pursue a better life and believed they were taking advantage of an opportunity, after witnessing and experiencing the reality of the program, it haunts former participants such as Ríos. However, this haunting nightmare gave him the reason to break his silence and to share his story to the Los Angeles Times.
Chris Luna was also a former Bracero worker who was part of the program since the beginning. The following link directs you to a podcast in which Luna confesses that he was referred to as a "dog" and was prevented from returning to Mexico when he realized the program was barbaric. Despite many Mexican migrants who came to the United States in search of a better life through the Bracero Program, workers such as Luna and their desire to return to their home country reveal the degree of the inhumane nature of the program was not worth suffering. Albert de Luera Escabar, another Bracero worker and participant of the podcast, disclosed the eating conditions of the program in which he summarized: "They didn't give you a chance to rest... imagine the camp of seven to ten thousand people, giving them food to eat on long tables like this. At two or three in the morning, you would have to get in line to eat, because if you work up late, you have to go off to work without eating." Workers had to work all day, hours on end with their backs hunched over with little rest and poor food. It was not only men that participated in this program, but even young children, Josie-Cario Johnson who is a daughter of a former Bracero worker, was sought out and helped her family in the fields to pick out tomatoes.
Emilio Solis Palleres shares a slightly different perspective of his experiences as a Bracero worker. Palleres shares one of his most consequential and significant experiences as a Bracero in his experiences in harvesting cotton. He reveals that he almost had his arm amputated while working with a cotton gin and continues to imply that if you left because you were unable to work you would be sent back to your home country. The video cuts to his saying: "I lived a comfortable life." This statement arguably sets him apart from the other testimonials I gathered for his page, because unlike Chris Luna, Rafael Morales, and Fausto Ríos, Palleres reveals that he was able to live "a comfortable life" due to his employer helping him and his family gain papers in order to reside in the United States.
