Bernie has the most amazing new ad that will run Thursday nationwide at 8:48 p.m. EST on Univision. As the campaign says, “It is unprecedented for the Spanish-language network to run an ad this long and it will alter its primetime schedule to accommodate the spot.”

You can watch it here now.

This ad says everything. It will bring tears to your eyes, both of sadness and joy. It’s what I most deeply believe. Sometimes I forget and get tied up with life. This ad brings me home to my core beliefs — what it is all about for me.

Please watch it. It has English subtitles for the Spanish language parts and Spanish subtitles for the short statements by Bernie. You can skip right to it below or read my short introduction first.

Back in 2008, long before he ran for president, Bernie went to Immokelee and then convened senate hearings on the workers’ plight. I wrote a post about the the Immokalee tomato workers in March 2008:

In the tomato fields of south Florida, modern-day servitude still thrives.

"Slavery, plain and simple" A federal indictment filed on January 17th of this year charged six people for their roles in a violent farm labor operation based in Immokalee, Florida. US Attorney Doug Molloy called the operation "slavery, plain and simple"

Ft. Myers News-Press, "Group accused of keeping, beating, stealing from Immokalee laborers" 1/18/08).

The American consumer does not want the tomatoes they eat to be picked by workers who are grossly mistreated

Senator Bernie Sanders, January 18, 2008

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/28/486067/-

Please, please watch it. You will be glad. And it has happy ending. :-)

x YouTube Video

I’ll do a transcription but it does not do justice to read it. You have to hear her voice and see the pictures. Feel the emotion in your heart.

Udelia Chautla : (English Translation) I will always fight. As long as I can see my children happy and well, I will continue fighting to provide them with the best. My children are the motor that drives my life. My three children are the only family I have here in Immokalee, Florida. Immokalee is a small town, but it is filled with hardworking and kind people. It’s a very beautiful town. Despite everything that has happened at work. abuses in the fields. When I arrived from Mexico, I started working in the fields. The tomatoes I pick are used in American salads. There were cases of bosses abusing workers. They would not provide workers with water or restrooms. The bosses would get angry because some of the men wouldn't want to keep working and start hitting them. At night I would cry sometimes because when you earn isn’t enough. It affected my children because sometimes I didn't have enough to buy food. They don’t understand what we had to live through. Because (wiping tears), We have families. I started getting involved in protests for Fair Food in 2010. The Fair Food program is asking big corporations to pay one cent more per pound of tomatoes. So the workers receive a just payment. I joined because I thought it was important for there to be people that wanted to improve working conditions. Since not many seemed to care. Bernie Sanders : In January 2008, I went to Immokalee. What I discovered was a human tragedy. Workers were being paid starvation wages and subjected to abusive labor practices. Udelia Chautla : (English Translation) Bernie Sanders took interest in the lives of the workers and wanted to hear their struggles. Politicians never came to Immokalee. He didn’t keep silent about what he witnessed here in Immokalee. Bernie Sanders : We heard the voices of Immokalee. Workers who were at the lowest rung of the economic ladder. Workers who had no rights. Udelia Chautla : (English Translation) He went to Washington D.C. and called a hearing with other senators (picture of Berni next to Teddy Kennedy at the hearing) To shine a spotlight on what conditions are like in Immokalee. There are now more rights and worker support. We started to see rises in our wages. It really improved our lives. I could buy small things for our children. This changes a person. Bernie Sanders : But how many more Immokalees are there? How many fields or factories are there? We have to ask ourselves ‘who benefits from this exploitation?’ And to understand that it is not only the Immokalee workers who suffer but every worker in America because that pushes us in a race to the bottom. [Picture of Udelia Chautla hugging her small child] [The video ends with newspapers saying abusive practices have disappeared in Immokalee.]

Bernie and we fight for far more than one candidate and one election.