Speak Truth To Power Adds Farmworkers Rights Lesson Plan

"Abuses occur and you are alone, afraid and often threatened. This is what it means to be vulnerable. You cannot say or do anything. This is what it means when the legal system permits abuse. Justice becomes a word without any meaning. This is how the dreams of so many farmworkers are buried in the fields of this country." -- Librada Paz

The Speak Truth To Power human rights curriculum, encompassing more than 30 teacher-developed lesson plans, has a new lesson based on the work of 2012 RFK Center Human Rights Award Laureate Librada Paz. The Librada Paz lesson plan for grades 6-8, includes activities meant to engage students so that they better understand the plight of the farmworkers in the United States and what basic human rights protections are denied this historically marginalized group. The final activity called "Become a Defender," presents ways in which students can participate in the farmworker rights movement by supporting New York state legislation that will provide farmworkers the most basic level of protection from ongoing human rights abuses.