Your May 24 editorial “Ag industry winces at tough talk” might have been improved by writing “Ag industry winces at possible loss of exploitation of non-citizens.” To continue to refer to this situation as simply “labor” is akin to calling an indentured servant a “worker who lives with us 24/7.”

This situation of exploitation continues because news sources soft pedal the issue in headlines. Perhaps the editors could look to the current issue of the Atlantic and its cover story to see what modern slavery looks like in a Filipino family in this country in this time. The exploitation of migrant labor will continue just as statues of Jefferson Davis will continue to stand in the South: until someone says what the problem is in words that are strong enough to match what is really happening.

David Riggs

Seattle