BY MOSES
Today's reading in class brought out facets in the Latinization of the Southeast that I have witnessed firsthand. The unfortunate treatment faced by Latino's of differing immigration statuses was in most cases less than stellar at best- at worst it was deplorable. The main areas that stood out to me growing up were highlighted very well in the article by the Souther Poverty Law Center from April 2009,; mainly in regards to the housing, mistreatment by unscrupulous business owners, and bigotry in local government and the population at large. Just as when I was growing up, I read this article and asked myself "why? Why treat people this way?" and then one quote confirmed my own suspicions:. "The north won the war but us confederates won because we got to keep our slaves.;" That line in particular stood out because the underlying feel in moments when among any minority group in the south is the same feeling. The vestiges of bigotry are still visible in policy's enacted by local and state governments.
While I myself was fortunate to never catch the full brunt of any discrimination because my parents immigrated here before all this mess,. I have seen many families pass through following work as it came with the seasons on the tobacco farms and in the factories on the outskirts of my town in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. The Mexican migrants worked the hardest and were the nicest people to anyone that was nice to them. Unfortunately nothing came easily to them, for the longest time there was no appointed translators in any of the hospitals and local courts, so my mother took it upon herself to handle most of the area's Latino population's translating needs. There were many, whether speaking with police officers trying to determine whether they had the proper paperwork to be in the country, or filling out paper work to receive medicare treatment for their children. It didn't stop, being in a small town there was a confluence of not having enough money to support the payroll for people able to translate the rules and regulations.and the local population not approving of them being there to begin with.
Another issue was the police in the area never leaving them alone, whether it was a "noise complaint" or "routine traffic stops" the Police were a constant presence. Not to say that every single Latino immigrant was a saint, but not enough to justify making an errand run feel like a slalom through a minefield. Despite all these factors the powers that be can not stop the tide of change that's sweeping the Southeast.
It is very interesting learning about the influx of Latino immigration happening in the south and your blog brings up many areas that make me think. First to applaud your mother for standing up and allowing herself to be used as a tool for immigrants, it is often easy to turn your back but it takes true courage to stand up and allow yourself to not stand for the discrimination occurring. The biggest question I had while learning about this and reading your blog, or maybe my realization was that if areas in New York City and even California, places that claim to be progressive, were not very tolerant to immigrants, why would the south be? Especially with their history of intolerance for minorities.
ReplyDeleteImmigrants have always been oppressed throughout the world whether it happened in the South or in inner city areas. It sounds like a vast majority of Mexicans took that toll of hardship and empowerment in the Southeast. Nevertheless, when my parents first arrived to the United States in the 80s they sought through a lot of obstacles to finally feel as somewhat comfortable. One thing that they told me a lot of Latinos were complaining about was the massive racial profiling and increased probability the law enforcement withheld. It was a giant stereotype and a terrible way of addressing the newcomers.
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