"As wildfires have raged throughout California, there’s been too much concern over the damage to luxury crops like grapes and berries, and not enough for the farmworkers who put their life on the line, as explained by Dr. Michael Mendez at the Kegley Institute of Ethics event on April 19 titled, 'Tainted Grapes, Tainted Lungs: Extreme Wildfire Impacts on Undocumented Latina/o and Indigenous Migrants.'”
~ Ernesto Leon
"UC Irvine professor explains dangers of wildfires for farmworkers" - The Runner
"Where there are over 100,000 Hispanics/Latine individuals, with about 8% of the population estimated to be undocumented– that’s over 38,000 people. There are also about 12,000 Indigenous Mexicans, and many do not speak English or Spanish. Common languages spoken by Indigenous folk in the area are Mixtec, Triqui, Maya, Chatino, and Zapotec.
Indigenous Mexicans are not Hispanic or Latine, so this presents a huge language barrier for the community when it comes to informing them about wildfire dangers and evacuations."
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