Dear John,

On June 19, 1865, Black men and women in the state of Texas who had long endured the brutality of slavery – upon whose unpaid labor the U.S. agricultural industry was built – were told that, finally, freedom had come. Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, union soldiers landed in Galveston with news that the war was over and enslaved people across the country were free.

Today, our country is still struggling to ensure that the freedom and equal rights promised on that fateful day in Texas are made real for everyone.

It may be 155 years later, but the deadly impact of institutional racism is still being felt every single day across the country. Racism and violence live on in every corner of our society, from brutal police tactics that have stolen the lives of countless Black people, to the deep-seated poverty and powerlessness that have rendered essential workers – who are disproportionately Black and Latino – profoundly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If we are going to uproot racism in its many forms, we must invest in proven solutions. The Fair Food Program has proven its ability to shift power and change lives of the women and men laboring in today’s agricultural industry. You can become a part of that change by signing up to be a Fair Food Sustainer.

And right now, you have a chance to double the impact of your donation! Thanks to longtime CIW allies Sue and Phil Carter, and to another donor who wishes to remain anonymous, the first $6,200 of contributions will be doubled for the rest of the week. If you become a Sustainer in the next 48 hours, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar.

These are historic times. In the past several months, the global pandemic, which is ripping through the Immokalee community as we write, has laid bare the longstanding injustices that essential workers like farmworkers and meatpackers have faced for far too long. And in just the last few weeks, George Floyd’s death has spurred millions of peaceful protesters to rise up and demand an immediate end to police brutality and racial inequality.

And we can’t let up now.

The farmworker community in Immokalee sits squarely at the intersection of the abiding, structural inequities and the unprecedented health care crisis sparked by the coronavirus. The Fair Food Program was born at that crossroads, and has a decade-long track record of unparalleled success in redressing longstanding power imbalances and righting generations-old wrongs.

Designed and driven by workers themselves, the Fair Food Program has been scaled up and replicated in other states and other agricultural sectors. With your help, we can bring enduring change and life-saving protections to farmworkers across the U.S.

Join Sue, Phil, and hundreds of other generous Sustainers in supporting real, lasting change for essential workers across the country.

Click here to become a Fair Food Sustainer!