stories i long to hear…

this morning’s segment of this american life on kuow was a reminder of why i love public radio so much- stories like today’s about the john pickle company lawsuit highlight how ordinary people can stand up against corporate exploitation when they commit to holding extraordinary convictions. the best part of the story (for me) was that one of the real heroes was an unassuming lay pastor at a small pentecostal church (remember- this is tulsa, oklahoma) across the street from pickle’s evil factory of human trafficking and greed. the story goes like this…

in 2001, a group of about 50+ skilled indian laborers (many with university degrees) were recruited by pickle’s company (which manufactured parts for- of course- the oil industry) for a”lucrative” opportunity to work in the US. quitting their local jobs and paying exorbitant travel fees (which basically lined pickle’s pockets) for this american job, the workers were promised high wages, great living accommodations, and open-ended work visas. but sure enough, once they arrived in tulsa (and their passports were confiscated), they discovered something else entirely: crammed, substandard bunk-bed “dorms” on-site in the factory, ridiculously low (and illegal) $1-3/hour wages while their white american counterparts made $15+/hr, and continuous harassment, coercion, and intimidation. when they protested this degrading treatment, they were threatened with imprisonment and deportation, while the lucky ones were humiliated with toilet cleaning and septic tank detail.

thankfully, a couple of workers were able to sneak out (leaving the factory without permission was forbidden under armed guard) on a sunday and they slipped into the nearby church to participate in worship and escape the oppressive conditions of pickle’s prison. mark massey, a lay minister there, connected with the men and befriended them in spite of their broken english and seemingly suspicious demeanor. eventually, he learned of their plight and began to smuggle them out into his own home, eventually vacating his house so that dozens of indian workers could find a safe place of refuge while he contacted local organizations to collect food and resources for the men. meanwhile, he also recruited the only lawyer he knew for the cause, an attorney who humorously admitted that prior to this case, he couldn’t even spell “immigration.”

what stuck out to me was an encounter between massey and some of the workers one night when he was helping them to escape the factory- two of the men had brought their friend who told massey, “i’m hindu- but will you help me as well?” and massey replied, “of course- that’s what the gospel is about.” long story short, against the odds, this local pastor and his inexperienced attorney managed to take this multi-million dollar corporation to court even though they struggled to pay their $50 kinko’s copying fee for submitting court documents. and in the end, thanks to the US equal employment opportunity commission, the workers were set free, awarded $1.24 million in damages, and pickle’s slave factory was shut down (though they still operate in kuwait).

ultimately, for all of my typical ranting against evangelicals (which is valid, i think), i’m encouraged to hear real life stories about people like mark massey who are making a difference because of their faith, integrity, and biblical sense of justice. massey admits that plenty of people in his church thought he was crazy for getting so involved in what “other people” should be doing. but i’m glad that he stuck by his convictions and modeled for many of us how the church should be working towards embodying- as the indian workers called him- the good samaritan.