So, Colbert is pretty much my hero now. Maybe I have a controversial opinion regarding illegal immigration overall, but I think that most logical people ought to agree that we should leave the migrant workers alone. Some people whine about how they're taking jobs away from Americans, and in this shitty economy that's enough to piss anybody off. If I were applying to a vet clinic and I was turned away because they hired an illegal immigrant who would do the job for cheap and required no long term commitment from the clinic, I'd raise hell. However, that's not nearly the situation. United Farm Workers is/has been running a campaign called "Take Our Jobs Please" in response to the uproar about "those damn Mexicans stealing all our jobs." Since a lot of these workers are undocumented, they're pretty much at the mercy of their employers. They work long hours in hot fields and when they finally finish for the day it's likely that they'll never get the mud off of themselves. And even if they do, they go right back at it in the morning. Summary: The working conditions are shit.
So United Farm Workers got sick of people crying about the dirty Mexicans and gave Americans the option to end the dispute. The problem is, I wouldn't do those jobs, especially not for that pay. And I bet neither would you. Almost everyone in this country would rather bank unemployment checks or simply live on the charity of others than to put in the kind of work that these migrant workers do. This is where Stephen Colbert came in. He wanted to bring attention to the case (and get some lolz while we're at it) and he did so by spending a day working in the fields. The conclusion he drew was basically that if we didn't have these hardworking folks harvesting our crops, America would starve. 'Cause we sure as hell wouldn't do it ourselves. Colbert spoke at a congressional hearing regarding the case, which skyrocketed my opinion of him, and it sounded like a lot of congressmen were upset that a comedian was arguing this case. How dare someone famous bring this issue to the attention of the general public?
I fuckin' love you Colbert.
Growing up in MOT before MOT was a suburb of Philadelphia and was mostly fields and farms, just about the only job you were likely to get before the age of 16 was working on a farm. I'm pretty sure everyone from my hometown of my age did their farm time, either in fields, in chicken houses, in the milking barn or on the turkey farm. There was literally nothing else around except seasonal work at Uncle Mike's ice cream stand. I know even now, a lot of kids who are under 15 get jobs on what farms remain. My cousin did, and he just started his senior year in high school. Perhaps in most of the United States, "we won't do it ourselves" applies. But not this corner.
ReplyDeleteThere are obvious exceptions for particularly rural areas, but I would venture to guess that the number of Americans willing to work those jobs is a good deal less than the amount it would take to operate all of our farmland. Some people have a passion for farm life, and it's a good thing too because otherwise we'd have a whole other issue on our hands regarding food crops. And I'm neglecting crops grown for other purposes, like fiber and fuel. I don't like to imagine what that would do to cost of living.
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