Stephen Colbert delivers ‘whole truthiness’ to Congress to help farmworkers’ fight [Video]
[HMG Celebrity News] – The normally dull proceedings in Washington D.C were enlivened today when Stephen Colbert took part in a meeting designed to illuminate the dire conditions endured by undocumented farm workers.
As much as 75% of the produce grown in this country is harvested by undocumented workers who often face inhuman conditions and minimal pay. And Stephen was in D.C to testify that this should be stopped.
“I don’t want a tomato picked by a Mexican,” he told the House subcommittee. “I want it picked by an American, sliced by a Guatemalan…and served in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian.”
Some folk complain these workers are stealing American jobs. But Stephen’s message was that farm work is so hard most Americans won’t even do it, so immigration law should be changed to allow illegal workers to gain citizenship.
Dressed in a razor-sharp suit and red tie with his hair neatly parted in a perfect division the Comedy Central host spent most of the meeting with a look of plausible bemusement highlighting his face. But his words won the day.
The subcommittee’s chair, Democrat Zoe Lofgren of California, compared Colbert to Bono, and thanked him for using his celebrity to bring attention to these workers plight.
“Maybe we should spend less time watching Comedy Central and more thinking about real jobs out there,” Republican Steve King of Iowa suggested to Colbert.
In a taped segment, Colbert was seen taking part in the United Farm Workers’ “Take Our Jobs” program, which showed illegal workers are not stealing jobs — Only seven Americans have ever taken a job through the program.
“Most of the food on your table has been cared for by unauthorized workers,” the Post reports the UFW’s president, Arturo Rodriguez as saying. “U.S. agriculture would need 1-million citizens to replace them,” he continued. “And mass deportations would cause the collapse of the industry as we know it.”
Then came Stephen’s turn to add his opinion;
“I’m a free-market guy,” Colbert told the panel. “Normally I’d leave this to the market, but that market has moved most farm work to Mexico because of the lack of available labor in the US.”
The subcommittee’s job is to gather information to aid Congress’ plans to pass the ‘AgJobs’ act, which will provide legal farm labor and protect immigrant workers. And Stephen’s a fan.
“Americans may consider taking jobs once conditions are better,” he said. “I trust both sides will work together in the best interests of the American people — as you always do.”
In a room filled by occupational blowhards, Stephen made a good deal of sense. But let’s hear your views on this story…
