How They Worked- Spark 3/20

“So great an amount of work for so little money”

As angry Americans protested Latino workers standing on street corners in the documentary we watched last week, the hate was apparent. At first, the impression I got was that a group of concerned Long Islanders were gathering to genuinely discuss the safety of their neighborhood. But 20 minutes later, the animosity and underlying racism had seeped through their “law-abiding” front and smeared their rallies to clear out the illegal immigrants from their neighborhood. Many of the claims the residents were making were founded on the belief that illegal immigrants steal jobs from hard-working American taxpayers. Well if that’s true, then I’ll admit it’s pretty hard to welcome strangers if you feel like they’ll rip your job out of your hands eventually. So do the protestors’ claims stand on solid ground? Sanjek examines the working conditions of immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s, a pattern apparent in America’s immigrant working class today.

As immigrants arrived in Queens in the 60s and 70s, the infrastructure of New York City’s economy experienced an overall shift. Following the 1969 recession, from 1970-76, “New York City lost 600,000 jobs, and employment fell to its lowest point since 1950.” As the cost of living shot higher and higher, immigration rose as well. Queens gained 177,000 residents, the majority being Latin Americans, counteracting the white flight many urban neighborhoods were experiencing. Immigrants flocked to Queens where abandoned stores and businesses created job opportunities with a growing clientele. Sanjek notes that “the majority of immigrant-owned businesses in Elmhurst-Corona were of the very types being abandoned by white Americans…” So immigrant-run businesses were not stealing profits or jobs from white Americans, simply because white Americans were the ones leaving these jobs and allowing the immigrants to take them. I don’t think stealing constitutes moving into empty storefronts and replacing abandoned white business. Do you?

But immigrants did not only run shops and open small businesses (if they were lucky). Immigration created a new class of workers, a class notorious for its low-wages, nonexistent benefits, and harsh working conditions. First of all, does creating jobs that white Americans did not previously work amount to stealing? Secondly, Sanjek clearly states that “employers who sought to hire Americans at these wage levels found few who would accept the working conditions or remain in the job beyond a few weeks.” Sanjek goes on to say that immigrants working these low-paying jobs actually increased American jobs and businesses because without these bottom workers, businesses would have closed down or moved offshore if employers were forced to pay Americans higher wages for the immigrant’s work. If by stealing jobs you mean creating new ones, then, yes, maybe you’ve got a point.

Examining the facts, it is clear that so often our own perceptions and stereotypes are what drive us to mobilize under the mask of “doing the right thing” or “working for the greater good.” The Long Island residents in the film believe that they are defending themselves and fighting for a just cause. But when the truth is printed in front of you, when you can Google immigration statistics and see if your prejudices have any basis, it is hard to justify their actions. So what do you think? Are Americans in favor of deportation merely blind to the facts? Is racism still so prevalent in this country that Americans still simply act out of thoughtless hate? Or is there another side of the argument?