← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · EDUMAKATEDMOFO
Thread ID: 20708 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2005-10-20
2005-10-20 15:33 | User Profile
[I]Perhaps the most offensive offering yet from this jerk:[/I]
THE RECONQUEST OF NUEVA ORLEANS
For many years, immigration advocates have been arguing that illegal immigrants mostly fill jobs that Americans don't want. It was hard for them to convince some people, especially those who are so hung up on the word "illegal," that these immigrants are very important to our economy.
But now there is new, clear and irrefutable evidence that without illegal immigrants many jobs simply wouldn't get done. Curiously, this evidence doesn't come in the form of another study, survey or some other abstract way of looking at real life.
It comes in the form of news reports from the city some people are already calling Nueva Orleans.
It turns out that the area discovered by Spanish explorers in the early 16th century is now being resettled by Latino day laborers.
They are flocking to the Gulf Coast area by the thousands, in search of jobs shunned by Americans who were evacuated from the area, and who are apparently unwilling to return home to clean up excrement, moldy drywalls and toxic waste. Even hauling toppled trees and other debris is too much for many who are unwilling to sweat a little.
Illegal immigrants are willing to do much more, at unsavory tasks, for much less.
At first, immigrant bashers complained that these immigrants were taking jobs that could be filled by Katrina evacuees who were sitting idle and unemployed in shelters. But they have had to shut up.
Construction companies, fast food restaurants, independent contractors and many other employers of unskilled or low-wage laborers are inflating their wages to attract workers. And still they can't get enough. Unskilled cleanup and construction workers are reportedly making $15 to $17 an hour. And for a job flipping burgers at a New Orleans Burger King, one can get a $6,000 signing bonus.
The need for workers is so desperate that the Bush Administration has had to suspend sanctions against employers who hire illegal immigrants, a move that has drawn much criticism from anti-immigrant forces in Washington. Mind you, this was not done for the benefit of the immigrants, but of New Orleans residents who want to rebuild their homes and their lives ASAP.
Nevertheless, at a time when Congress is getting ready to battle over immigration reform, Hurricane Katrina has supplied additional ammunition.
The administration also lifted the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, which requires federal contractors to pay the average regional wage. The idea is that this would hasten one of the world's largest reconstruction efforts. It would also make it easier for employers to exploit these workers -- all in the interest of expediency.
Nevertheless, the net result is that Latinos -- most of them undocumented -- are repopulating New Orleans and other Gulf Coast towns devastated by Katrina.
And that's a prospect that concerns at least one politician who is apparently worried that the shifting demographics could cost him his job.
"How do I ensure that New Orleans is not overrun by Mexican workers?" asked Mayor C. Ray Nagin who is becoming famous for having the wisdom of an amoeba and the tact of an elephant. What an insensitive thing to say about the people who are rebuilding his city! Nagin, an African-American, should know better than to discriminate against another minority group.
Given the mayor's attitude, you have to wonder whether these immigrants will be allowed to settle there, or whether they will be exploited and then sent packing. Many say they are staying in Nueva Orleans.
And what will the federal government do once these people rebuild the Gulf Coast? Send immigration agents to raid their homes and deport them?
It's all very ironic. The land that once belonged to Spain, before it went to France and the United States, may be reverting back to its Spanish roots.
The new conquistadores are people willing to do practically anything to achieve the American dream, people not unlike those other immigrants from places like Ireland, Italy and China who built major American infrastructures -- from roads to railroads and subways.
The new conquistadores are people who will deserve compassion and appreciation -- in the form of a green card -- after they do all the dirty work most Americans shun.
To find out more about Miguel Perez, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at [url]www.creators.com[/url].
[url]http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=mpe[/url]
2005-10-20 22:43 | User Profile
"It's all very ironic. The land that once belonged to Spain, before it went to France and the United States, may be reverting back to its Spanish roots."
How many of these Mexicans have even one drop of Spanish blood? Virtually none I'd dare say. Mexicans are continually claiming to be Spanish, then Aztec, then Mayan depending on what will get them the most mileage at the time. This is just more of the same garbage. Displace the "evil white man", all the while claiming the heritage of a bunch of other "evil white men" to whom you bear no real relation.
2005-10-21 02:11 | User Profile
You can see right through this idiot immediately when he uses the term "undocumented" and places the word "illegal" in quotations. Amidst all of your sappy whitewashing of the truth, you are forgetting one thing: They're CRIMINALS! They have come into this country illegally and do not deserve the hero's praise you are giving them, Miguel.
As for Mayah Niggin, the cat is out of the bag there, too. Blacks don't really believe in non-discrimination. They just use the term because it works on the sleeping population of white America to get things given to them without earning them. All these blacks and Mexicans hollering about discrimination are the biggest bigots and discriminators around.
2005-10-21 02:30 | User Profile
[quote=jozen1]"It's all very ironic. The land that once belonged to Spain, before it went to France and the United States, may be reverting back to its Spanish roots."
How many of these Mexicans have even one drop of Spanish blood? Virtually none I'd dare say. Mexicans are continually claiming to be Spanish, then Aztec, then Mayan depending on what will get them the most mileage at the time. This is just more of the same garbage. Displace the "evil white man", all the while claiming the heritage of a bunch of other "evil white men" to whom you bear no real relation. Not only that but for Texas at least, the only reason Mexico had anything to do with it is because of the white, blue eyed Europeans that conquered these lands and tied them all together. Texas won it's independence fair and square, but everyone seems to forget this. By the way, whatever became of the Mexican "troops" that Mexico sent to San Antonio to aid the Katrina refugees?
2005-10-21 12:23 | User Profile
He's right about one thing, where are all the former residents of New Orleans? Sitting in shelters throughout the land unwilling and too damn lazy (tnb) to rebuild the Big Easy.