Each Friday throughout the summer, a UUSC staff member will recommend books or articles about human rights. Today, Senior Associate for Economic Justice Ariel Jacobson recommends A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, by Samantha Power.

This book chronicles the repeated failures of United States political leaders who have been faced with responding to genocides around the world. Disturbing and eye-opening, it calls on us to hold our policy makers accountable.

Each Friday throughout the summer, a UUSC staff member will recommend one of his or her favorite books about human rights. Today, UUSC Senior Associate for Economic Justice Ariel Jacobson recommends The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization, by Rinku Sen with Fekkak Mamdouh.

This book tells the story of Fekkak Mamdouh, codirector of UUSC partner the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC). Mamdouh, along with many of his coworkers, lost his job as a waiter at the Windows on the World restaurant in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. His experiences of injustice as an immigrant and a restaurant worker led him to help found ROC to serve as a voice for workers in one of the fastest growing industries in the country.

This Mother's Day is the perfect opportunity to give the special mothers in your life a gift that will honor strong women throughout the world! Does your mom have a sweet tooth? Treat her to some pecan candies from the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Cooperative (SAAC). It's the only African-American-owned pecan-shelling facility in the United States — and it is run by women.

Carrie Thomas, mother of six and grandmother of twelve, is one of the community leaders in southwest Georgia that founded SAAC. Currently serving as SAAC's general manager, Thomas believes the cooperative has the power to increase skills, wages, and living standards for its community and for future generations. "It is a legacy we can leave our children," she says. Read Thomas's story.

By buying delicious pecan candies from SAAC for Mother's Day, you're supporting Thomas, SAAC, and the important work they're doing to create new business, offer decent jobs, and strengthen the local economy. The deadline to receive your pecans for Mother's Day is Monday, May 2, so place your orders now.  

And if the mother figure in your life doesn't like pecans, you can support the women of Kenya's SoilFarm Multi-Culture Group by giving one of their handcrafted handbags — on its own or packed with environmental-justice goodies.

Thank you for helping to honor mothers around the world, including your own!

Spring is upon us and with Easter and Passover around the corner, Hershey's chocolates are everywhere you turn. More than nine years ago, chocolate companies committed to ending child labor, forced labor, and trafficking in their cocoa supply chains. These  labor-rights abuses continue — and Hershey is still lagging behind.

Many chocolate companies have taken steps to trace their cocoa purchasing, implement labor-rights standards among their suppliers, and introduce some fair-trade-certified product lines. But Hershey — which surely can afford to move forward in this area — has no policies in place to trace its cocoa and protect workers. The company is still declining to take steps to curb human-rights abuses in its supply chain.

Easter and Passover mark a time for new beginnings, the renewal of right relationships, and commemorating marginalized people's struggles for freedom. These holidays call on people of faith to gather our courage and speak truth to power. Just as the Easter story of resurrection is a call to spiritual renewal, we must renew our commitment to the liberation of those whose labor is exploited in the production of cocoa. Just as the Passover Seder reflects on the story of the Jews as slaves in Egypt, we must reflect on today's slaves in West Africa, where child and forced labor are prevalent in the cocoa fields.

Easter and Passover call us to live in accordance with our values of justice and integrity and to shed light on situations where there are violations of human rights. In accordance with this spirit, and with our work on fair trade and ethical eating, UUSC is continuing to support the "Raise the Bar, Hershey!" campaign, spearheaded by our allies Global Exchange, the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), Green America, and Oasis USA. You can support the campaign with these simple steps:

• Learn more about the campaign and its specific demands of Hershey.
• Collect signatures and send petitions to Hershey.
• Tell Hershey's CEO that "Every-bunny Loves Fair Trade" (kids can send the message, too! ) to let the nation's biggest chocolate company know that we support better livelihoods for cocoa farmers and must bring an end to child labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry.
• Organize a screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate, a documentary that exposes the truth about child labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry.
• If you celebrate Passover, incorporate a discussion and activity on fair trade in the cocoa industry into your Seder.  
• Buy fairly traded chocolate for your Easter and Passover treats: 
  • Equal Exchange: Purchases through Equal Exchange's Interfaith Store count toward contributions to UUSC's Small Farmer Fund to support small farmer and producer cooperatives that promote human rights. 
  • Divine Chocolate
  • Global Exchange
  • Sjaack's
  • Sweet Earth

It's almost Valentine's Day, and Hershey's chocolates are everywhere you turn. Over nine years since chocolate companies committed to ending child labor, forced labor, and trafficking in their cocoa supply chains, these egregious labor-rights abuses continue — and Hershey is lagging behind.

While many chocolate companies have taken steps to trace their cocoa purchasing, implement labor-rights standards among their suppliers, and introduce some fair-trade-certified product lines, Hershey doesn't have much to show for itself. The company — which surely can afford to — has no policies in place to trace its cocoa and protect workers and is still declining to take steps to curb such abuses in its supply chain.

In honor of Valentine's Day and in accordance with our work on fair trade and ethical eating, UUSC is supporting the "Raise the Bar, Hershey!" campaign, spearheaded by our allies Global Exchange, the International Labor Rights Forum, Green America, and Oasis USA. You can support the campaign with these simple steps:

• Learn more about the campaign and its specific demands of Hershey.
• Send a "valentine" to Hershey's CEO to let the nation's biggest chocolate company know that we oppose continued use of chocolate that hasn't been certified to be free from the worst forms of abusive child labor.  
• Organize a screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate, a documentary that exposes the truth about child labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry.

Looking for a unique way to spread the love this year — but still want to satisfy your sweet tooth? By supporting UUSC's partner the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Cooperative (SAAC), you're helping create a new economic future for this unique pecan-processing cooperative owned and operated by African-American women in Georgia. Plus, supporting them means ordering and enjoying their delicious pecan candies!

If you didn't get a chance to indulge during the winter holidays, or if you just can't get enough of those double-dipped chocolate pecans, download an order form [PDF] and send the completed form, accompanied by a check (made out to Southern Alternatives Agricultural Co-op) or credit-card number, to UUSC. You can also fax your order to UUSC at 617-492-9824. (Sorry, orders cannot be accepted by phone or e-mail, and while we cannot guarantee orders to arrive before February 14, every day is good for pecan candies!)

At this point in SAAC's growth as a co-op, they are unable to manufacture their own candies, but it is one of their goals to create their own goodies with fairly traded ingredients — and your support will help get them to a place where they can!

In the past year, over 780 UU congregations have shown their commitment to providing a just wage for small-scale farmers by purchasing fairly traded coffee, tea, chocolate, and other products from Equal Exchange through the UUSC Coffee Project. The ripple effects of this dedication are felt halfway around the world, as Equal Exchange contributes a portion of the proceeds from the Coffee Project back to support UUSC's efforts in building long-term partnerships with small farmer and producer groups through the Small Farmer Fund. 

In Bungoma, Kenya, a town just 20 miles from the border of Uganda, young people who have finished high school must work to provide for their daily upkeep and that of their families, even though it is very difficult to find decent work. Increasingly, these youth are finding themselves in the role of sole heads-of-household, due to loss of their parents from HIV/AIDS or other circumstances. The town's proximity to the border renders these young people vulnerable to prostitution, trafficking, early marriage, risky forms of work, and other exploitation.

UUSC's economic justice partner Muungano (a name that translates to "togetherness") is uniting the community to address the economic and social issues it is facing by providing livelihoods for youth while connecting them to traditional agriculture. With the help of UUSC, Muungano is training youth to run their own catering businesses, cooking for local events like weddings. They also rent land to grow organic, traditional crops, which they use to prepare nutritious and affordable meals for people with HIV/AIDS to ensure the effectiveness of their medication.

Back here at home, STITCH is bringing together immigrant women in Mississippi, including poultry workers, child-care providers, and women who have lost their jobs, to build their leadership skills and to work as a group to address common issues. Much like the Women's Network for Social and Economic Justice that STITCH facilitates in Central America, the women in Mississippi are growing stronger by learning about issues like gender, globalization, and human rights through the Women, Labor, and Leadership curriculum.

Five hundred miles away, in Fayetteville, Ark., the Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center is forging ahead with its campaign to hold employers accountable for not paying their workers by working with city officials to pass an anti-wage theft ordinance. The Workers' Justice Center is also continuing its close collaboration with OSHA to train workers on health and safety to reduce the numbers of injuries and deaths on the job.