Hispanics have earned respect

Why are many Warren countians so racist when it comes to Mexicans? Yes, I said the R-word because that’s what people are, down right racist when it comes to Hispanic people around here.

Many, and I mean many, Warren countians think they are better than their Mexican counterparts, looking down their noses at folks who hail from south of the border like they themselves are a bunch of elite members of the Harper Valley PTA. Give me a break people, the excuses being used for what is out and out racism are flimsy to say the least.

You get these folks who talk about Mexicans like they are dirt yet they have never hit a lick at anything in their entire lives except bumming off their parents and bogging down the entire system, basically being deadweight on society. They go on about how Hispanic people have come up here to take their jobs, a laughable comment when most of these folks making the comments wouldn’t work a full-time job even if you paid them in cold beer every day.

There aren’t a handful of people around here who would work most of the jobs being worked by immigrants, so the whole ‘they’re taking our jobs’ claim, at least here in Warren County, is a bunch of bull. Folks, I just don’t see a bunch of locals lining up to work a long, hard summer in the nursery fields.

While I’m on the subject let me just say I respect people who will leave their homes and travel thousands of miles to work a job rather than a person who wouldn’t go across the street to collect a paycheck. And, let me point out they do have a positive impact on the local economy as opposed to some misconceptions that they don’t contribute.

Actually, I was talking to a local restaurateur recently who said his business saw a 30 percent drop, not due to our economy here which seems to always be recessed, but due to the departure of the migrant workers who moved on looking for other work when the combinations of last year’s late freeze and the drought decimated the county’s nursery industry. Folks, they earn money here and they spend a lot of money here, what they don’t send back to their families in Mexico.

And, see how long the nursery industry survives if you were to chase away the Hispanic workers. By the way, if you don’t think your livelihood is tied to the nursery industry here, then you really aren’t using your noodle since nursery is still our No. 1 business. A collapse in the nursery industry would mean a total collapse of the local economy. While we may think it’s bad now, we would have tumbleweeds blowing on the empty streets if the nursery industry failed here.

So what is it that makes it almost acceptable in some circles to be racist when it comes to Hispanics? I think it comes down to the language barrier. People get nervous and distrustful when they can’t understand what other people are saying. Plus, in this case, I believe locals think it’s a sign of lack of respect for our country when people come here to live but can’t speak our language.

I feel that way when my relatives from Maine come down to visit. I can’t understand a word.

I have to admit, the language barrier keeps a gulf between Americans and migrants from Mexico, and, the chances are, without a massive educational effort to teach immigrants the language, the gulf will remain. And, the gulf is most damaging to the immigrant as it is difficult for them to be accepted into this culture without speaking the language, plus their ability to improve themselves economically is limited without English skills.

But, bottom line, it is not right to be racist against anyone, I don’t care if they speak Pig Latin.

Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].