Last year I wrote a blog about my viewing of "Made in L.A." a documentary highlighting the experiences of a group of women, mostly undocumented immigrants who work in the garment industry. After viewing the film and talking with the producer/directors afterward (my favorite part of living in L.A.) I realized that Mr Do Won Chang, owner of Forever 21, a company that took advantage of workers and their rights, also funded the student housing complex I live in, as a student at Fuller Theological Seminary. (My that's a lot of prepositions.) Anyway, this shocking revelation still weighs heavily on me , especially as I continue to struggle with my own spending patterns, materialism, and personal conviction that I am part of a really big, yet largely ignored problem.
As Christmas rounds the corner and I brave those dangerous places called malls, shopping centers, and box stores, I have made it a point to consider the person I might be stomping to death to get the latest flat screen T.V. deals at Walmart. I also hope to consider the hands that made what ever it is I purchase. I have spent some time (not alot, I admit) this year putting the pressure on merchants by demanding fair wages for workers through letter writing. I write letters to my favorite stores and tell them I love their products, but I don't want to buy them at the expense of someone who is getting dollars a day to produce them. The response letters, in their public relations oriented insincerity, are my favorite, (note sarcasm) but I press on.
And I press on why???
Because I can't think of a better way to celebrate the day that Jesus wasn't really born. Just think of it as my "Happy sort of Birthday Jesus" to the world.
I have also tried really hard to purchase goods that are either locally produced or are fairly traded. Trader Joes, Ten Thousand Villages, and Dolce Bambino Designs have greatly aided in this effort. Luckily I also have friends who have all agreed to shop at thrift stores for Christmas gifts too.I have, and continue to try to make little steps toward change that affect not only who I am as a consumer, but who I am as person who cares about the humanity of others. I am far from a hippy go lucky chic in a potato sack and I don't intend to ever be that. But I do think it is possible to strike a balance somehow.
Here is a portion of the blog from last year;
"When I saw this story unfold, I was really angry and confused. I wondered if donating to Fuller settled Mr. Chang's conscience, or if he actually was a sincere and generous man who just didn't think much about the people who produced the clothing sold in his stores. I also wondered how Fuller handled this whole situation behind closed doors a few years ago when the Forever 21 boycott was taking place.
In the film, it was revealed that a settlement was in fact reached between Mr. Chang and the workers, after three years of fighting. Despite the settlement, my self righteous condemnation of Mr. Chang grew relentlessly as did my anger toward Fuller. How could they take his money knowing how it was made? Then I had a revelation. I realized...I SHOP at Forever 21! I also shop at Target, H&M, and most any other trendy discount store. The worst part of it is that I KNOW that those trendy clothes and home furnishings come at a cost. If it's cheap, it's because someone produced it under cheap conditions. This is no secret!!!! It is the way of the global retail world. I know this, but I choose to push that knowledge far away from the forefront of my awareness.
Perhaps my hidden hope is that denial will somehow make me less responsible for the injustice it heaps upon vulnerable people, or maybe I just don't know what else to do. If I am really honest though, I have to admit that this issue has never hit close enough to home for me...not enough to cause me to give up my insatiable, all-American addiction to STUFF at least. Let's be honest, none of my family members work in a sweatshop, and I doubt I will ever have to. But after seeing the movie, and knowing that the issue has in fact hit a little closer to home, I can no longer shuck my responsibility. In my initial condemnation of everyone ELSE who is responsible for the many levels of injustice faced by the garment workers in this film, I eventually could not deny my own participation in this aspect of our world. It made me realize that I, much like Mr. Chang, exist within the tension of who I am, and who I want to be. I pick and choose and rationalize my own behavior, and usually, the more I deny, the more someone else suffers.
On the way home from the movie I walked up to Chang Commons, the place I call home, and I realized that there is no greater reminder of our need for a transforming paradigm shift in regards to how we live our lives than the name of my building, coupled with the business philosophies of Do Won Chang.
The documentary will be shown on my campus soon. I really hope everyone I know gets a chance to see it. And I hope that whoever views it, does so with the realization that we all play a role in the consumerist culture that breeds sweatshops and exploitative labor practices. We all play a role in the demands we place on our administrators (for those of us in higher ed) to provide affordable housing for us. We are all responsible for the entitlement to low cost goods and services that often characterizes our culture, and we are all responsible for changing the way we live, shop, act, and do business. If you and I don't start taking that responsibility to heart who else will?"
