I’ve noticed that Barry has been venting about how life-saving technologies make people drive like idiots.
However, I’ve got a rant about a more serious issue here: Racism.
Ironically, it is also tied to driver’s licenses and terrorism.
Mexican President Vicente Fox was quoted as saying:
“There’s no doubt that the Mexican men and women – full of dignity, willpower and a capacity for work – are doing the work that not even blacks want to do in the United States”
(see the entire transcript here)
Whoa.
Now, this sort of statement is even more inflammatory than my (humorous) diatribes against GRAPE.
So let’s dissect it:
President Fox starts by complimenting the Mexicans who come into the U.S. (illegally) as people of dignity who aren’t afraid to work hard. Honestly, our leaders know it — President Bush has been trying to walk a fine line between locking down our porous borders and trying to maintain our access to inexpensive (re: cheap) labor. This pool of blue collar talent appears to be critical to the economies of the border states, and has an impact felt nationwide.
But this isn’t about whether or not immigration is bad. No, no, no…
This is about the fact that resident Fox decided to single out African-Americans as being unwilling to take on the jobs these Mexican workers are doing.
I could put a positive spin on it: Perhaps Fox was thinking that we’ve come so far in this country that a group that was once held back by the laws of our land are now so affluent that they turn their noses up athe type of work Mexican immigrants would do.
But I can’t help but think that, beneath it all, it’s a snide comment that begins with the assumption that African-Americans are are the bottom of our society. After all, why did he feel a need to say that these were jobs even blacks won’t do? Should white people not do these jobs? Are they automatically exempt? How about Chinese people? Or Cambodians? Or European immigrants?
Fortunately, organizations like The National Council of La Raza have condemned Fox’ remarks.
I am sure racial perceptions are different in Mexico, but… I think Fox made a big mistake when he made this comment. But I also know that these perceptions change over time. Keep in mind that in the 1930′s, the group stereotyped for their basketball skills were… Jewish. To make sure these stereotypes don’t persist, when someone does chime in with a stereotype, folks can not afford to be silent.