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Audio Recording Tony M. Belekwa interview conducted by John W. McKerley, 2016-12-05.

Audio recording of interview with Tony M. Belekwa.
Audio recording of interview with Tony M. Belekwa.

About this Item

Title

  • Tony M. Belekwa interview conducted by John W. McKerley, 2016-12-05.

Summary

  • Belekwa was born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire) in 1984. His family came from the same area as longtime national president Joseph-Désiré Mobutu and enjoyed some privileges as a result. His father worked as a supervisor at a gas company and his biological mother's family was connected to the military. After his mother left and moved to Paris, Belekwa was raised by his father and a stepmother. Conditions for the family took a drastic turn for the worse after the beginning of the First Congo War in 1997. The family fled as refugees to Cameroon, where they lived in cramped conditions, and later came to the US, following Belekwa's father, who had immigrated first. The family lived in Aurora, Colorado, outside Denver, where Belekwa's father struggled to support a family of six working as a airport cleaner at $10/hour. Belekwa started school but soon left to help support the family as a hotel cleaner. With the onset of the Great Recession, the family moved to North Carolina to search for work and to live with a paternal aunt. In North Carolina, Belekwa worked at a variety of part-time jobs but was very unhappy. After a trip to Paris to see his mother, he determined to change his conditions and followed a friend to Iowa in search of more opportunity. He eventually found work at the Tyson meatpacking plant in Waterloo. After two years as a line worker, he succeeded in becoming a full-time interpreter. In the plant, he found hard work and a diverse workforce who used profanity as a lingua franca. Although Iowa was a "right-to-work" state, Belekwa joined the union, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 431, for workplace protections. He explains how he found a need for the union when, for example, management confused him with another worker and threatened to fire him on false allegations. Although Belekwa regards the union as important for maintaining "equality" in the plant, he expresses dislike for other workers who he felt took advantage of solidarity. In the community, he found that the experience of migration brought together various groups of Africans, but also created tensions between Africans, African Americans, and whites. Belekwa explains that while he is grateful to the comparative opportunities afforded by meatpacking work, he sees the plant as a steppingstone to future success.

Names

  • Belekwa, Tony M., 1984- interviewee.
  • McKerley, John W., interviewer.
  • Occupational Folklife Project, sponsor.

Created / Published

  • 2016-12-05

Headings

  • -  Belekwa, Tony M.,--1984---Interviews
  • -  Refugees--Congo (Democratic Republic)--Interviews
  • -  Supervisors
  • -  Wages
  • -  Work ethic
  • -  Work sharing
  • -  Employee rights
  • -  Diversity in the workplace
  • -  Education
  • -  Employees--Dismissal of
  • -  Factories
  • -  Hazardous occupations
  • -  Humor in the workplace
  • -  Income
  • -  Job satisfaction
  • -  Labor unions
  • -  Part-time employment
  • -  Blue collar workers
  • -  Meat industry and trade--Iowa
  • -  Packing-house workers--Iowa--Interviews
  • -  Waterloo (Iowa),--event place

Genre

  • Sound recordings
  • Digital photographs--Color--2010-2020
  • Interviews
  • Oral histories
  • Personal narratives

Notes

  • -  Recorded in Waterloo, Iowa, December 5, 2016.
  • -  Recent immigrant workers in Iowa's meatpacking industry : Archie Green Fellows Project, 2015-2016 (AFC 2015/026: 03301) Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
  • -  To honor the memory of Archie Green (1917-2009), a fellowship program was established at the American Folklife Center in 2010. Archie Green Fellowships support new research in the contemporary culture and traditions of American workers.
  • -  In English.

Medium

  • 1 sound file (wav) (00:56:26) : digital, sound.
  • 1 photograph : digital, Camera Raw, color.
  • 1 manuscript : digital, pdf file.

Source Collection

  • Recent immigrant workers in Iowa's meatpacking industry : Archie Green Fellows Project, 2015-2016 AFC 2015/026: 03301

Repository

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2020655377

Rights Advisory

  • Duplication of collection materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.

Access Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • audio
  • pdf

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17, U.S.C.) or any other restrictions in the material in this collection, except as noted below. Users should keep in mind that the Library of Congress is providing access to these materials strictly for educational and research purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other holders of rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. See our Legal Notices and Privacy and Publicity Rights for additional information and restrictions.

The individuals documented by the Occupational Folklife Project retain copyright and related rights to the use of their recorded and written testimonies and memories.  They have granted the Library of Congress permission to provide access to their interviews and related materials for purposes that are consistent with the agency’s educational mission, such as publication and transmission, in whole or in part, on the Web. Project participants’ written permission is required for any commercial, profit-making distribution, reproduction, or other use beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The American Folklife Center and the Occupational Folklife Project fieldworkers who carry out these projects feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people they have visited and who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these collection materials should contact the Folklife Reading Room for assistance. 

Credit line

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Homeless Shelter Workers in the Upper Midwest: Archie Green Fellows Project, 2016-2017 (AFC 2016/034), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

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Production Potters of the Midwest: Archie Green Fellows Project, 2018-2019 (AFC 2018/030), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

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Tillamook: Cheesemakers in Coastal Oregon: Archie Green Fellows Project, 2021-2022 (AFC 2021/011), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Belekwa, Tony M., Interviewee, John W McKerley, and Sponsor Occupational Folklife Project. Tony M. Belekwa interview conducted by John W. McKerley, -12-05. -12-05, 2016. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2020655377/.

APA citation style:

Belekwa, T. M., McKerley, J. W. & Occupational Folklife Project, S. (2016) Tony M. Belekwa interview conducted by John W. McKerley, -12-05. -12-05. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2020655377/.

MLA citation style:

Belekwa, Tony M., Interviewee, John W McKerley, and Sponsor Occupational Folklife Project. Tony M. Belekwa interview conducted by John W. McKerley, -12-05. -12-05, 2016. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2020655377/>.