Caroline Yoc

USA | Child labor | Student | 20 drawing hours

Caroline Yoc, 15 packages Cheerios at night in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It could be dangerous work, with fast-moving pulleys and gears that had torn off fingers and ripped open a woman’s scalp.

She is one of many migrant children in the US working brutal jobs in addition to or in place of going to school. At nearby plants, other children tend to giant ovens to make Chewy or Nature Valley granola bars, and packing bags of Lucky Charms and Cheetos.

This shadow work force extends across industries in every state. In LA, they stitch “Made in America” tags into J. Crew shirts. They bake dinner rolls sold at Walmart and Target, process milk used in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and help debone chicken at Whole Foods. They run milking machines in Vermont and deliver meals in New York City. They harvest coffee and build lava rock walls around vacation homes in Hawaii.

There are 12 year old roofers in Florida and Tennessee. Underage slaughterhouse workers in Delaware, Mississippi and North Carolina. Children sawing planks of wood on overnight shifts in South Dakota.

Excerpts from the New York Times