as if they are less than worthy of our respect and care;
as if any human CAN actually be "illegal".
Talk to me about these individuals
as if they are a "them"
instead of us.
Tell me about your prejudices
once YOU have worked a 13-hour day
into the dark
for not great pay,
replacing a roof
then cleaning up
so immaculately
that no one can tell you were ever there
except by looking
at the beautifully shingled roof.
What would YOUR life be like without the immigrants you think are taking away our jobs and benefiting from our social services?
Carol: My roof would tell the same story and it was replace in DECEMBER a couple of years ago. I loved the little girl's question and subsequent comment about papers to the First Lady yesterday!!!!! If I couldn't find work to take care of Goodnight, I would do what I needed to do.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in the US last year for the whole month, in every hotel, I saw only immigrants clean the rooms (and what a great job and how polite they were too.)
ReplyDeleteI've long rejected the idea that a person can be "illegal" just by being alive in the wrong spot.
ReplyDeleteG.G.,
ReplyDeleteYeah, that little girl just said it, didn't she? Too bad we don't have any good answers for her.
I actually did part of a roof once - volunteering for a Habitat for Humanity build. The weather was nice that day. I came home VERY sore. To roof in the freezing temps of winter or the scalding temps of summer... I can't imagine.
Dancing,
ReplyDeletePeople complain that immigrants are taking our jobs, but I bet you that these same people wouldn't accept those hotel jobs (or the roofing jobs) for any amount of money, let alone the small amount that we pay for them.
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteWe don't call anyone else "illegal" when they break a law. They're just someone who broke a law. But, like you said, when someone is in the wrong spot (according to someone else) he/she is labeled "illegal", which doesn't accurately describe the person at all.
I think there's some convenient framing going on here.
A post to raise the roof about, Carol.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Carol.
ReplyDeleteI, like most of us, would not be here. My grandparents were immigrants.
Hi San!
ReplyDeleteHey Nick,
ReplyDeleteI wonder if your grandparents and my great-grandparents wouldn't have immigrated here, would you and I have met in Ireland, instead of the U.S.???
That's an interesting thought, Carol. Im wonder...
ReplyDelete