Plymouth & Racine, WI
Our next stop was Plymouth, Wisconsin - small town North of Milwaukee. A lot of the students we spoke with come from family-owned farms in the area. It was interesting getting them to relate their experiences to some of the farming families documented in the Millennium Villages Project. Their initial reactions were that these villages were so different from their communities, when in reality they are dealing with similar issues in terms of agriculture.
Next on the tour was Racine, Wisconsin - a suburb south of Milwaukee. We spent two days at J.I. Case High School. The town of Racine has an interesting background; it is the location of the future taiwanese-owned Foxconn LCD television production factory. Since 2017, there has been controversy surrounding the project. Wisconsin’s then governor, Scott Walker, made a deal with Foxconn that included billions of dollars of tax cuts. All of the students we worked with had at least heard about it, but a lot of them knew more of the story too. We talked to them about countries opening businesses in other countries (Ex. the illegal Chinese mine operating in Bonsaaso, Ghana we cover in the MVP): What perks do they receive? How does it affect locals?
We ended our third week on the road in Milwaukee. In addition to preparing for the next two weeks of school visits here, we attended a teacher professional development! Elana Haviv, executive director and founder of Generation Human Rights, created the MVP curriculum that teachers are using in their classrooms. She led a workshop where teachers discussed the declaration of human rights, talked with photographer Ron Haviv about his work in the exhibition, and got a sneak peek of the bus before we visit their schools!
