7-04-06, 9:06 am

Nabor Marcelino, a Nahuatl, and Heriberto Ramirez, a Purepecha, work in Santa Paula, in a crew of limoneros, or lemon pickers.  Ervino Mateo, another Purepecha, shows his hands, gloves and clippers.  Indigenous Purepecha immigrants in the crew come from Turiquaro, a town in the Mexican state of Michoacan, and indigenous Nahuatl immigrants come from San Marcos in the state of Guerrero.  The family of Ervino Mateo lives in the Cabrillo Village Cooperative housing project in nearby Saticoy, which was once a labor camp, but which was taken over by limoneros and their families many years ago.  They still run it today.

In Santa Maria to the north, dancers and musicians perform for indigenous Oaxacan immigrant farm workers at a fiesta organized by the Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations.  The young Oaxacan dancers belong to the dance troup of Ricardo Canseco, a Chatino immigrant, and Mixteco horn players perform traditional music from their hometown.  Children and mothers from other indigenous Oaxacan families look on.




--From the project, Living Under the Trees.  Project partner:  California Rural Legal Assistance.  Project support from California Council for the Humanities.

For more images, in color:  and http://dbacon.igc.org/Imgrants/fiesta00.html