I will never forget the job I had in high school. I worked in the housekeeping department for the military hospital in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. I swept and mopped floors, changed hospital beds and pulled trash.
It was a union job, and the pay was excellent for a high school student. I never thought twice about the value of the work or whether it was skilled or unskilled. I was getting paid!
Earlier this month, Mexican President Vicente Fox angered some when he said that Mexican immigrants take jobs ”not even” blacks want in the United States. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton demanded apologies. Fox is now asking U.S. black leaders to support a migration accord that would allow immigrants to get three year visas to do the very work to which he was referring.
Are his comments offensive? To gain some insight, I turned to a few good, educated and opinionated colored friends of mine. Most agreed that the Mexican president’s comments could be interpreted as racist. They also agreed that his comments are largely true. But what do his comments say about Mexican immigrant workers and African-Americans?
One participant reminded me of how hard our ancestors had worked as domestics. Fox’s comments are offensive, she said, because they imply that black folks are lazy, and historically that’s just not true.
Do you see yourself picking lettuce or strawberries? No, said another friend: “No one is going to work in those jobs for so little pay when they don’t have to.” The Mexican President certainly isn’t lying, he added.
Lord knows, Fox could have taken out blacks and inserted Americans, because we’re talking about jobs that most Americans won’t take, either. Americans certainly aren’t satisfied with the minimum wage; we want more.
Americans are hoping to be the next reality TV star, Americans are playing the lottery in order to hit it big, and Americans believe they’re one invention away from retirement on the beach. Work the fields? Not hardly!
Another participant told me that we’ve worked hard to not have to take such jobs. At the same time, she said Fox’s comments shed light on his negative impression of black workers.
So, is the real issue the racist comments or the U.S. economy that props itself up on the cheap labor?
I can’t say that I’m offended by Fox’s comments. I’m offended that the quality of jobs is such that the lettuce I bought for 50 cents last week may have been picked by a Mexican native with a third-grade education who has been working the fields in the U.S. since the ‘80s. Black folks aren’t going to take that kind of job for that kind of pay, and Mexican workers shouldn’t have to, either.