Chocolate Slavery

Chocolate Slavery

One act play

It is 11:00 in the afternoon, and Mr. Pittman announces to his class.

WE HAVE A SPEAKER TODAY! Everyone welcome Willy Presentence from the International Chocolate Organization!

Willy Presentence walks into Mr. Pittman’s class, and up to the front of the classroom.

MMGHGHGM (as he clears his throat) Do you appreciate slavery?

No?

Why not? Do you like chocolate?

Yes?

Then you support slavery! Slavery tastes good!

Do you know where the chocolate that you eat comes from? Cocoa farms in West Africa is where the majority of chocolate beans grow. Do you have a job?

No?

Most children laboring on cocoa farms are between ages twelve and sixteen. Maybe you should work!

I don’t wanna work yet Willy!

Well too bad, do you think the child slaves get a choice? The farmers get paid about $2 a day and use the children as slaves to keep the prices competitive. You should be thankful for not needing to slave on a chocolate farm to eat. Do you know what the first form of your chocolate bar is?

Yes! it comes in a bean!

They get beans from up in a tree. After your brown beans have been collected, they are put into bags and packed onto cargo ships and sent to factories around globe, then made into the chocolate bars that you eat today. When was the last time you were at a store?

I was there yesterday.

Did you see any chocolate.

Yes.

You can find chocolate all around the world thanks to globalization! Do any of you yipper snappers have cellular devices?

Yeah, I have an iPhone 20 plus 2000x MEGA MEGAXXL 4K.

Great then you know how useful they can be.

It requires communication around the world to get your slave chocolate you love and enjoy today.

How does an iPhone help get the chocolate to me?

Communication, without the technology we have today, people would still be writing and sending letters. If we had to wait for letters everyday, it would take much longer to communicate and that would cause chocolate to be more expensive. If chocolate was much more expensive, would your mom still buy it for you?

I don’t know my mom inhales chocolate.. she might still buy some?

Wrong answer, Of course not! No mother would buy chocolate if it was too expensive.

Globalization allows for your chocolate to be cheap!

Why do you like chocolate?

I like chocolate because it makes me feel good in my tummy.

Exactly, Don’t let this convince you not to eat chocolate! Chocolate is not the problem!

Chocolate tastes good!

Slavery tastes good! It has been great talking to y’all today; I hope you enjoyed my presentation on how your chocolate is made, and how globalization affects the process. Not everything is made in China! I’m Willy Presentence and I approve of this message.

By Cole Betsinger and Joshua Doucette Narrator: