On the Line.

• Position: Brief news - Brief Article

Children March on Death Row

Waynesburg, Pennsylvania

Sister Helen Prejean, at right, leads an opening prayer (behind her is Muslim leader Mauri Salakhan) at a vigil against the death penalty held outside Pennsylvania's Greene Prison on August 13. The vigil marked the culmination of a three-day action called Children's Crusade 2000. Parents and children from more than forty countries camped at the Bruderhof Community in Farmington, then marched together to the prison for the vigil. Organizer Johann Christoph Arnold says that the event was a call to end violence and exploitation in order to celebrate life. "If children can get along, one day adults can, too," says Arnold.

For more information, call the New Meadow Run Bruderhof at (724) 329-8573. Or e-mail Children's Crusade 2000 at ccrusade2000@hotmail.com.

A Dash for Peace

Los Alamos, New Mexico

Two protesters dash across a "No Trespassing" line at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on August 9. They were commemorating the fifty-fifth anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. The protesters who crossed the line were detained for an hour before being driven back to their cars. No one was arrested.

For more information, call Peace Action New Mexico at (505) 989-4812.

Farm Workers Demand Better Wages

Mattawa, Washington

On August 6, Noe Sitio of Wenatchee, Washington, walks along Interstate 243 accompanied by his wife, Marisol, and with his sister, Elizabeth, on his shoulders. Approximately 4,000 people marched four-and-a-half miles to call for better wages and conditions for farm workers and amnesty for those who are undocumented. Some marchers said the make $6.50 an hour picking apples. "We cannot feed our families with these low wages," said farm worker Arnulfo Ramirez, who was one of the marchers.

For more information, call the United Farm Workers at (661) 823-6230 or go to the web site at www.ufw.org.

Chicken Catchers Unionize

The Delmarva Peninsula

On July 6, chicken catchers who work for Perdue Farms in Georgetown, Delaware, and Salisbury, Maryland, voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27. The sixty-nine mostly African American men are the first Perdue employees to vote for a union. The catchers grab three or four chickens at a time. Their hands often become raw and bloody because the chickens peck at and scratch them. The workers are frequently paid on a piece-rate basis of $1.86 per 1,000 chickens caught. Chicken catchers capture as many as 50,000 birds per eight- or...