Celso Mendoza spent the last 2 decades of his life scratching out a living on the line at a chicken plant in Forest, MS. Though he lived humbly, he was a worker leader respected in his community. This week his life was cut tragically short by #COVID. He was 59 years old. Celso and I first met in 2002, shortly after we both first arrived in Mississippi. As a grad student studying the poultry industry's labor practices, I had a lot to learn from Celso. As a migrant Veracruz, Mexico, he was there to work in the chicken plant for six dollars an hour.

Essentially, the meat/poultry industry took no action to protect workers from #COVID, churning through them as though they’re disposable. Now that plants are shuttering due illness and death, Trump issues an order forcing workers back on the job.
nytimes.com/2020/04/28/bus… Trump’s invocation of the Defense Production Act doesn’t “force” producers to stay open. It gives them cover for what they were doing anyway until local and state officials stepped in to protect these #EssentialWorkers—keep the line running at all costs.