FIND THE SUBTEXT(s): "Immigrants find opportunity in ruined New Orleans"
See previous posts Gulf Coast Slaves, Katrina Three Months Later, "This is turning into the ethnic cleansing of New Orleans".
(Immigrants find opportunity in ruined New Orleans) on Yahoo news.
"NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Much of New Orleans lies abandoned and destroyed after Hurricane Katrina struck nearly four months ago, but for Latin American immigrants the storm-ravaged city has become a land of opportunity.
While New Orleans residents are slow to return, the immigrants, most of them illegally in the United States, have swarmed in to do the hard work of cleaning up and rebuilding that others so far have shunned. (This sounds familiar doesn't it? The narrative of black "laziness," [Isn't this what Vincente Fox articulated when he said that Mexican immigrants do the work that even "the blacks" won't do], black expectations of a handout, the erasure of black labor. Oh, and note the use of the word swarmed.)
They are not here because of altruism -- New Orleans is just another place in a strange land to them -- but because there is a huge unfulfilled demand for labor and, as a result, high wages they cannot get in their homeland or in other U.S. cities. (What about those (who shunned the work) who are prohibited from returning home?) (more)
Inhuman humans, always.
posted by hysterical blackness @ 9:37 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hey! I see what you're saying about the erasure of black humanity and I agree with you 100%. I would like to also point out that just because there is supposed "value" in Mexican labor, that doesn’t mean that we are considered any more human than black folks are (I am not saying that you, hysterical blackness, are saying this, just that the article implies it)…as a chicana and former migrant worker, there is nothing I find more offensive than this whole “they do the work nobody else will do” logic…All that means is that Mexicans (especially if we are “illegal” Mexicans) are not entitled to bodily safety, family integrity, mental well being, or community permanence for the sole reason that the benevolent structure is “allowing” us to do shitty back breaking demoralizing jobs for 10$ an hour, no benefits, no union protection, and with the strong possibility of imprisonment if we get caught hanging over our heads—what more could little roaches like us want? Vicente FOx's comments were as offensive me as I know they were to black folks because our representative figure head basically told the world that our value as Mexican people specifically lies in our willingness to break our backs, souls, families and communities to do the shit jobs *real* human beings are too good for (or as the racist logic goes, even sub humans are too good for).
And when the article says that law enforcement has been lax on undocumented workers, that's a blatant lie--landlords who are trying to clear out occupied apt's to give to richer people are calling immigration to do the dirty work for them, shelters are constantly under surveillance by "officers" (that is, vigilantes) and not to mention that most undocumented workers who lived there before the hurricane aren't getting any help because they are scared to death of immigration coming after them—and they are also ineligible for any type of housing funding/loans as well.
THE PEOPLE'S HURRICANE RELIEF FUND & OVERSIGHT COALITION is doing really great work on coalition building through addressing the different issues Katrina has wrought on Asians/Mexicans/African Americans/Native peoples communities
You are absolutely right. Every other article I've read (a few i've provided links to) has talked about the undocumented workers being cheated, abused, etc. We are all inhuman, humans.
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