HispanicVista Columnists

Brown day workers, White street corner beggars and Racists

By Patrick Osio, Jr./HispanicVista.com

July 18, 2005

 

    There is an assumption that day job seekers outside a Home Depot or any other home improvement stores are illegal immigrants. Well, no, that’s not quite right – to assume they are illegal immigrants their skin has to be brown. Conversely, have you noted that shabbily dressed and disheveled persons standing on corners of busy intersections holding a cardboard saying “Will work for food” or in lieu of job solicitations simply ask, “Can you spare a quarter for food?” are not assumed to be illegal immigrants? And the reason? Dare it be said? Well, because they are not brown skinned – they, as a majority, are White.

Lately some self appointed racists would be saviors of the American way of life have taken it upon themselves to picket Home Depot stores against the hiring of those day-work solicitors accusing them of being illegal immigrants. But among those seeking work are US citizens and legal residents – guilty of looking for work while brown. In some places, citizens or legal residents job seekers are a majority while in other places a minority, but the anti-illegal immigrant racists don’t know who is a citizen, a legal resident or an illegal immigrant. They are simply hurting everybody that is there and affecting the livelihood of a serious number of families.

These same would be “patriots” claim that illegal immigrants take jobs from Americans in need of work, of course not caring that they are doing precisely that. And, it simply has not occurred to them to seek out the White will-work-for-food beggars to convince them to join others at the Home Depots and other such places where they can have a better than average chance of getting day work just as those brown skinned people.

And they don’t, simply because illegal immigration as an issue is actually secondary to the opportunity to practice racism disingenuously disguised under “patriotism” defending America against the invasion of “barbarians” bent on overrunning our nation. 

Many of these workers who are citizens or legal residents gained their legal status as a result of the 1986 amnesty program that provided they could legally stay if could prove they had been here since before 1981. On gaining asylum they had 5 years in which to learn passable English, stay off welfare, stay employed, and no criminal record, they could then apply for permanent residency and five years after that could apply for citizenship. And while legal residents could not be on welfare.

So these brown people rise at the crack of dawn, most seven days a week; trek to the construction supply stores, and hope that contractors, landscapers or gardening services will need labor for a few hours, a day, and heaven would be several days.

These folks are not going to a busy corner to ask for work-for-food or a hand out – they will work and then get paid, not the other way around. For the time contracted they will do whatever they are told to do – dig ditches no matter how hard the ground, plant trees, carry cement bags, mix concrete, wheelbarrow dirt or cement, clean newly constructed homes, or whatever else is asked of them.  Fortunately in most instances, at the end of the day they get paid, in some instances the job giver cheats them out of some or all the agreed on pay.

Whose job are these people taking? If they are citizens or legal residents – no ones. If they are illegal immigrants? They are taking the jobs of citizens or legal residents who are not there to ask for the jobs for themselves. There is nothing to prevent anyone who is unemployed from being there asking for the day-jobs. In fact, one would think that  Americans needing such labor would prefer “made or belong in America” workers, if they are told by job seekers of their status.

So why do so many whites prefer to stand on corners asking for food or hand outs instead of competing for $10 per hour temporary work? And why do brown skin people shun the begging-on-the-corner type of work? And, racists accuse them of being society’s leeches?

There was a time in American that honest hard work was coveted and those working hard were the backbone of the nation.

Such workers are still the backbone of the nation, but far too many Americans no longer covet hard work. And, racists are running freely in our society – there is something wrong in the kingdom.

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Patrick Osio, Jr is Editor of HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com). Contact at posiojr@hispanic.sdcoxmail.com

(The opinions expressed by Patrick Osio, Jr. are solely his and do not necessarily reflect those of HispanicVista.com, editorial board of advisors or it’s contributing writers.)

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals.

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