I could not find a Week 3 Seminar Post in my google docs so I wrote another and posted it. This is the original Week 3 Seminar Post.

Sean Dwyer

4/18/17

WC: 306

“An industrial Florida tomato is harvested when it is still hard and green and then taken to a packinghouse, where it is gassed with ethylene until it artificially acquires the appearance of ripeness.” (Estabrook 2011: 28)

“No consumer tastes a tomato in the grocery store before buying it. I have not lost one sale due to taste.” (Estabrook 2011: 28)

“He bought his freedom, but fell in love with a very beautiful slave girl named Namomma. Since he did some work for the master of Namomma, he saw her often. He was free; she was a slave, and slaves couldn’t get married like other people – not really. They didn’t know what to do. He wanted to have her for his wife, so he asked the master how much it would cost for her freedom. The master said $500. The master thought that was a fair price cause she would make a good breeder. For seven years my great great grandfather worked to get that $500 – and when he got it, he went to the master and said that the price had gone up to $1500. My great grandfather knew it wouldn’t be possible to save that much money, so he took out his free man’s pass and burned it, and offered himself to the master as his slave as long as Namomma was his slave. He made one clause in the bargain. If the master ever tried to sell her or any of their children, he said to kill him first. Otherwise he would kill the master and his whole family. And he said if the master tried to sell them after he was dead, he and the ghosts of his ancestors would put a curse on the house of Johnson and all their children thereafter would be cursed with ugliness. Master Johnson was so taken back that he let his daughter go and gave them both free issue passes.” (Smart-Grosvenor 1970: 24)

“[The] great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed [is] to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well. The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves.” (Holt-Giménez, Harper 2016: 4)

The assigned texts this week held a theme: you can’t fake the real deal. The allegorical language of Estabrook in Tomatoland suggested similarities between the treatment of tomatoes and people. The disgustingly detailed process of growing a living organism in a habitat not meant to support an organism that needs such delicate care was yet another frightening reminder that caste systems have developed with such detail the only requirement is for the organism to try and grow. The first quote reminds me of the development of a hard-headed, “greenhorn” who thinks they are adequately brave because they found their way back to the packing house after a rough trip on the sea. It is there in the place of arrival where the greenhorn is gassed with ethylene and convinced that the wear and tear shows ripeness, but the bruises only show a readiness for healing. The passage from Smart-Grosvenor’s Vibration Cooking can be used to explain why the South Florida Tomato farms throw out any tomatoes that are starting to ripen. Smart-Grosvenor’s great great grandfather was free and with that freedom started to fall in love. He used his freedom to try and free his love, but after years of hard work realized it wouldn’t be allowed. He then took out his free man’s pass and burned it, and offered himself as a slave. The tomatoes that start to ripen have more plant value than those who haven’t, but cannot be picked because a naturally red tomato stands out amongst the rest, and people start to wonder why the others are not like that. Smart-Grosvenor’s great great grandfather’s strength would have challenged his oppressor’s ability to exploit, oppress, and rape by virtue of his power, as described in the final listed quote, because Master Johnson’s inhumanely manufactured power was challenged in the rawest, most humane way.