As an ethnic wheeler-dealer whose stock is falling, Jesse appeared a little too anxious to please the Mexicans, as he quickly announced the need for a new coalition between blacks and Hispanics, though he had little to show for his trouble: he couldn't even pry a proper apology out of Fox for the earlier comment that Mexicans would do work even blacks wouldn't touch. The Rev. looked weak, but kept on plugging anyway.
So Jesse's recent bus round-up of far-flung Katrina-displaced blacks to New Orleans for the purpose of claiming reconstruction jobs required extra finesse not to upset his Mexican associates. (Up to 80,000 New Orleaneans are living in shelters around the country, many of whom are destitute and need jobs.) He had to appear concerned with the well-being of black Americans without speaking ill of Mexican illegals who are swarming over the employment free-for-all like ants at a picnic:
Lured by jobs paying $15 to $17 an hour, the Spanish-speaking day laborers have flooded into New Orleans to haul out debris, clear downed trees, put in drywall and perform other tasks as rebuilding takes hold in the city. Specialized roofers can make $300 a day. ["Immigrants Rush to New Orleans as Contractors Fight for Workers" LA Times, 10/10/05]
Jesse was not at his smoothest when quizzed on Lou Dobbs Tonight (10/11) after the bus caravan's arrival in New Orleans:
And so when Mr. Bush put forth a federal bailout on the state's terms and gave no bid contracts and suspended the building wages, they began to recruit workers from Central America. They didn't just like invade us, workers from Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Maquiladora. Those workers were recruited because they could make them — let them work on the prevailing wages without health insurance.
See? According to Jesse, job-thieving illegal aliens are innocent victims, and there's no invasion stealing us blind and destroying everything we value.
And cartographers haven't located the country of Maquiladora just yet...
