Every year, thousands flock to the Coachella Valley for its iconic Music and Arts Festival. Just a short twelve-minute drive southeast of the festival location lies a different Coachella -- one not nearly as glamorous. It's actually quite the opposite: filthy, decaying and in need of your help.
Shady Lane Mobilehome Park is home to about forty migrant farmworkers and their families. At the park, electricity outages often last for weeks, leaving families without air conditioning during the Coachella Valley's exceptionally hot summers. One woman fell ill when her home temperature reached over 115 degrees. Unable to bear the heat, many families are forced to sleep outside. Running water often shuts down for entire days, leaving residents unable to wash their hands or take showers. The park's septic frequently malfunctions, causing waste to overflow during the rainy season and when residents wash clothing. Homes are falling apart, letting rain and cockroaches inside. Check out the shocking video above to learn more.
"When my children use the bathtub, waste often comes out of the drain," says Joel Beltran, a Shady Lane father.
Carina Felix, a resident of the park, recounts the troubles she faces as a student living at the park: "Power outages are common...I have to often decide between using the Internet to do my homework or staying cool."
Joseph Salgado, pictured below, suffers from asthma. He uses a mechanical nebulizer to alleviate his symptoms, which are exacerbated by the heat of the Coachella Valley. His home's air conditioning system is unreliable, and during the summer, the temperature in his room often reaches over 100 degrees. During one of his asthma attacks, the electricity malfunctioned and the wiring of his nebulizer shocked him.
Instead of improving these conditions, the park owner neglected the residents of the park. In 2011, the owner took steps toward closing the park, which would have left the families at Shady Lane without anywhere to live.
To take control of their park, residents incorporated Shady Lane Mobilehome Park, Inc. (SLMP), a nonprofit organization that intends to purchase the park and repair its electrical, water and sewage systems. It eventually hopes to replace worn-down mobile home units and construct a community center, including a playground for the children! To finance these costs, SLMP recently launched a 60-day Indiegogo campaign titled "The Real Coachella."
This past summer, alongside a dedicated team of lawyers, law students and videographers, I visited the families of Shady Lane to hear their stories, collaborate with them and shoot our campaign video. It was heartbreaking to see kind, incredibly hardworking people, whose labor puts food on our tables, live in such appalling conditions. And it astounded me that, despite the unrelenting adversity they face on a daily basis, these farmworkers and their families stay optimistic; as one resident put it, "To me, this park means home, family, hope."
One reason I so strongly empathize with families at Shady Lane Mobilehome Park is because, as a gay person, I have a deep, internalized passion for human rights. While I have never had to deal with sewage overflows when I wash clothing, or never lived weeks without electricity, I understand, and just about all LGBTQI+ Americans understand, what it's like to be shackled to the shadows of a system that claims to promote opportunity and equality for all. We understand what it's like for injustice to be normalized, to have our dignities disgraced. And we certainly understand what it takes to produce change: mobilizing and organizing, diligent advocacy, and the support of sympathetic allies.
It's important that as LGBTQI+ people gain more recognition and are granted more rights, we do not forget that our society still completely ignores - and by extension, exploits - many disadvantaged groups, including the farmworker families at Shady Lane. We cannot afford to forget. Humanity cannot afford for us to forget. And real people, with dignity, in hopeless situations, cannot afford for us to forget. We must stand in solidarity with other historically marginalized groups and utilize our empathy, passion, knowledge and resources to promote human rights for all.
#TheRealCoachella charity campaign is an incredible opportunity for LGBTQI+ people, and all people, to change the lives of some of America's most disadvantaged families. Please consider donating to this cause -- any and all contributions will have a tremendous impact in improving the health and quality of life of the families at Shady Lane. You can also help by speaking up - share our Indiegogo fundraising page and video on Facebook and Twitter and tell your friends and family about this campaign. Your support will much appreciated in a community who aims to secure a dignified way of life.