For whatever reason, the public has turned a deaf ear to the cries of migrant farm laborers for decades.

Some people spit in the direction of struggling workers for “stealing jobs” from citizens. Others prefer to pretend these people and their families don’t exist.

I guess what I don’t understand is how something like gay marriage – completely victimless, yet criminal in the eyes of the law – is a forefront issue today, yet the issue of migrant farm worker rights remains tragically underrepresented. Are Americans suffering from compassion fatigue, or are we simply oblivious to the burden of the human beings that cultivate our vegetables?

This issue was brought close to home when I attended the Harvest of Hope Festival in St. Augustine, Fla., earlier this month. I had an opportunity to speak with one of the board members of Harvest of Hope Foundation while I was there.

Dr. Ed Kellerman, a communications lecturer at University of Florida, was given a heavy dose of reality after spending almost a decade in the service of the “very talented, but wealthy and spoiled.”

As head coach of a high school boys’ tennis league, Kellerman often found himself taking on the happy task of mediator. He was often caught in the middle of the players, feuding about some silly thing or another, and their over-involved parents.

During one such petty spat, Kellerman had a guest speaker in his class – one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, a group of almost 30,000 young boys who were displaced or orphaned in the Second Sudanese Civil War.

The speaker’s words of strength and forgiveness to those who destroyed his family and community so many years ago were so inspiring to Kellerman that he decided to quit his job as tennis coach and devote his time to the service of a truly worthy cause.

From there, Kellerman went to work for his brother Phillip Kellerman, an advocate for the rights of migrant farm workers in America.

“Somehow the universe was telling me that I had a higher purpose,” he said. “There are kids that need to be fed, there are families that need to be clothed and need medical attention.”

Dr. Kellerman’s brother Phillip established the Harvest of Hope Foundation in 1997. Harvest of Hope aims to provide emergency relief, social services and educational opportunities to migrant farm workers and their families, who have often been ignored or mistreated because of their vulnerability as non-citizens.

The arduous and often dangerous labor performed by migrant workers is extremely beneficial to American citizens because they are willing to work long hours for next to nothing.

Migrant laborers do our dirty work for us, keep the cost of produce down, yet are abused and exploited for trying to make a better life for their families in this “free” country.

One distressing effect of the subordination of migrant laborers is the maltreatment of millions of children – children who are not receiving enough food, health care, and most importantly, education.

This is where we’re really shooting ourselves in the foot. The “migrant problem” isn’t going to fix itself overnight, and the worst thing we can do is deny a generation of future voters the opportunity to pursue an education and succeed in this country.

But, if you still don’t think migrant farm workers have a place in this country, imagine paying $6 for a tomato.

- Katie Andrew is a variety writer for The Red & Black.