Family friends run a construction business. The husband, who is from Central America, sees a fair number of people looking to take advantage of Hispanic business owners and workers. The presumption is Hispanic means illegal immigrant. And if the, uh, American doesn’t pay, there’s nothing the illegal can do. In fact, there often are threats about turning in the Hispanic immigrant to US authorities.
Now, this man is legal. He has a green card and runs an honest business. But he witnesses plenty of discrimination against Hispanics and gets some of it, too. I mention this because, one, it really pisses me off and, two, there is this immigration debate raging on Capitol Hill.
We live nearby some fairly white and well-to-do neighborhoods, the kind of folks that should be able to pay anyone—not take advantage of workers because of their race or immigration status. Their bad behavior generates unnecessary resentment. Worse, I wonder how many well-to-do folks want to keep the immigrants illegal, rather than grant them amnesty, so they can do the dirty work.
The real dirty work is these Americans’ misbehavior, their taking unfair advantage. Their ancestors were once immigrants struggling for new lives, too. And this is how they behave?
Excuse me, I need to shower. Thinking about these wicked Americans’ dirty work makes me feel dirty by association.