Joe Guzzardi
pointed this out in 2004, with a link to an NYT
story headlined
Turkey Is Basic, but Immigrants Add Their Homeland
Touches.
A
story about how Latin American and Asian immigrants
prefer their turkeys fresh-killed and describes them
actually
watching the staff kill the birds.
Fine with me, I suppose. But if
Republicans did it, rather than immigrants, then
you'd see the feathers fly.
“Wearing elegant high
heels, Barrientos walked into the unbearable stench
Tuesday, past cages stacked six high with chickens and
rabbits, to the back of the business where a chain-link
pen held nearly 200 turkeys.
“‘Get me a small one,’
she said in Spanish.
“An employee wearing a
rubber apron grabbed a spry-looking turkey by the ankles
and passed it to a co-worker, who then electrocuted the
clucking bird, slit its throat and dumped it into
scalding water before it was machine-plucked and
cleaned. Five minutes later, Barrientos had a lukewarm,
12-pound turkey for $18.
(Fresh
Take on Fowl Tradition |The slaughterhouse
owned by Samy Morsy draws many Latin American immigrants
who prefer buying turkeys out of the pen. By David
Pierson, Los Angeles Times, November 23, 2005)
Here's another happy story about immigrants learning
about Thanksgiving…at taxpayer expense.
"The immigrant
families attending an international Thanksgiving potluck
last week had only the fuzziest ideas about the November
holiday.
"Many knew it involved
a large bird, but few knew it had originated in the
struggle of early Americans to survive in their chosen
land or that those newcomers sat down with native people
in the country's first and most famous
multicultural feast.”
(Natives,
newcomers at table again By Lynn Thompson,
Seattle Times November 23, 2005]
In Astoria, Oregon, someone is drawing the wrong lesson
from the riots in France. Do they have a subscription to
the
Wall Street Journal?
“In a
world that is consumed by the threat of terrorism, we
are fortunate to live in an immigrant nation. One lesson
which analysts draw from the civil unrest in France is
the inability or unwillingness of European nations to
assimilate immigrants.
“Astoria
likes to think of itself as a fairly stable population
base with ethnic longevity. But there was a time when
the
Scandinavians were the new Americans, the new
immigrants. Our new immigrant today is the Hispanic, who
is finding his way into our economy.”
(Count
your blessings, (editorial) Daily Astorian,
Oregon. November 22, 2005)
From Minnesota, a formerly American town, now totally
transformed due to the turkey industry's use of
immigrant labor:
“The plant was also
the site of a
failed organizing effort in 2003 and 2004 by the
United Food and Commercial Workers union. Jennifer
Christensen of UFCW Local 789 in South St. Paul said the
union has not given up and plans another try soon.
“Many Willmar
residents said the town has come a long way in adjusting
to its new residents, and vice versa.
“But there were rough
years. In the 1990s, many of the local Hispanics were
concentrated in overcrowded mobile home parks where
violent crime flourished. The closing of the Elm
Lane park in 1995 ended up dispersing the residents to
other parts of town, some with the help of
housing subsidies.
“‘I think Elm Lane was
a wonderful learning experience for Willmar," said
Police Chief Jim Kulset. "If you allow the environment
to degrade into what Elm Lane was, that was a cauldron
for creating crime.’ "
[Willmar:
Turkey Town Rural Minnesota community has
been transformed by the rise of processing industry,
by Emily Gurnon, Pioneer Press, Nov. 23, 2005]
But it's not all happy. I found one person who is not
happy. And do you know who she isn't happy with?
Americans!
Leslie Milk after writing the usual malarkey about
immigrant ancestors, how lucky the Pilgrims were that
the Indians didn't have a border patrol, and the
obligatory Emma Lazarus reference, goes on to this:
“We seem to forget our
own history when dealing with immigrants now. In Herndon
and in Silver Spring, communities cringe at sight of men
- mostly Latino immigrants - gathering where contractors
come to hire day laborers.
“What are these men
doing that is so
offensive? They aren't asking for handouts. They
want to work to support their families and themselves.
“And we have no
problem with these same day laborers when they are
mowing our lawns, digging our swimming pools or
repairing our roofs. Or when their wives are cleaning
our houses and caring for our children.
“There are politicians
who want to limit newcomers' children's access to
schools, even though it is in our own self-interest to
help kids get the education and skills they need to
become good taxpaying citizens.
“Tomorrow I will give
thanks for the opportunities this country offered my
family and so many others like them. They came here
because they believed in the American dream.
“I never realized that
it had an expiration date.” (A
nation of immigrants, immigrant bashers, by
Leslie Milk, DC Examiner, November 22, 2005)
Well, of course, it's now a
nation of immigrants,
immigrant bashers, and now
immigrant-basher bashers, if I understand what she's
saying. If we had more
Bashi-Bazouk immigrants, we'd be called Bashi-Bazouk
bashers. But we're just arguing for a return to sanity
in immigration policy.
And there are several answers to her questions. The
Indians did have a border patrol, for example. What
do you think all those
Indian wars were about? But
they failed.
And what those
day laborers are doing includes
sexual harassment and crimes of violence, aside
from the economic harm they do.
If Ms. Milk (send her
mail) gets her way, it won't be the American Dream
that has an expiration date.
It will be America itself.
