I have real work I should be doing...smiles...but
here I am writing to you folks again.
I have made a few inquiries as to whether there
were impacts locally from the May 1 boycott...were dairy farmers left without
farmhands or anything of the kind around here? I thought there were an
awfully lot of Chicano/Latino folks in Walmart on Sunday...did they avoid
shopping locally on Monday? If so, were local businesses affected?
If anyone has any info I'd really appreciate you passing it on.
Social justice says we should embrace the
illegals...living in a nation ruled by law, we ought not. We value their
contribution to the economy...but they devalue the work of unskilled and
semiskilled natives.
Republicans welcome the financial support of
companies that benefit from illegals. Democrats fear alienating a
traditionally democratic Hispanic voting block.
I fear that nothing will be done...and I think that
is sad.
I have no hard data...but you do hear things.
I was told that if the wages of our ag workers who are working the produce
fields were raised by 40% it would only add $12 to my yearly grocery bill.
I imagine something similar is true in other agribusinesses that rely
on cheap labor...wage increases would increase consumer costs...but not a
lot.
That is why I don't buy the "Americans won't do
this work" argument. Americans won't do the work for a wage that does not
allow them to live respectably and provide for their families. Those
economics have been skewed by the presence if the illegals. And if
Americans in the end truly won't do the work, if there was no readily available
pool of cheap labor R&D money would go into additional mechanization.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
I am a past board member of Project FINE. I
have done everything I could do to ensure that basic community services are
available to illegals in Winona county. I am not a racist by saying that
illegal immigrants and those who emply them should be punished.
By the by, the National Anthem latino style bothers
me not a whit. Ever since I had French as my morning class of the day in
seventh grade I have said the Pledge of Allegiance in French.
Je fait serment
au drapeau des Etats Unis d'Amerique
et pour le republique qu'il represente
une nation, sous Deux, indivisible
avec liberte et justice pour tous
America has been described as a melting pot...I
think it is more of a stew pot. :-)
You can tell it is all one dish...but one forkful
may taste different than another. People bring up the english only
argument because they fear that new immigrants don't want to assimilate into our
culture. I think everybody should learn english, because I think it is a
unifying thing. But I know when my Grandmother went to primary school in
Winona in 1905 or whenever it was...she was taught in German. And they
spoke German at her church...and most likely at the store.
These are not new issues. Ane we will not
become France which saw you th riots...many Arabs among the number. In
France they preach equality, but they have not really ever attempted to
integrate their Arab population into general French society...and they are now
paying the price. We do integrate our minorities effectively....we've been
doing it for hundreds of years.
We have demonstrations in the US...not
riots...well, usually. But I know that Arab-Americans feel empowered
enough in our political and economic system that they don't feel they need to
resort to the brute force of riot. That has not always been the case of
minorities in this country, but I believe it is true among Arab-Americans
today.
Bob Sebo
Winona
