The new faces of day labor, and a Veteran's Day Story
The new faces of day labor, and a Veteran's Day Story
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 3:00 PM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2076 -- 10/11/2009 >>>>>
Web Version of this newsletter:
http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2009/11/11/the-new-faces-of-day-labor-and-a-short-war-story/
The Las Vegas Sun published an article that is stirring a lot of interest.
Besides telling a war story this newsletter will explain why the article is
mostly sensationalism
According to that article, the economy is so bad that U.S. citizens are
joining illegal aliens at day labor centers in order to find some temporary
work. It sounded fishy to me so I decided to ask an expert on the day labor
centers in the Phoenix metro area. Nobody would know better than Buffalo Rick
Galeener because he has spent many years observing day labor sites -- and
writing down license numbers of people who pick up the laborers. He has done
vigils of the centers daily starting early in the morning and lasting nearly
all day, and he has done it for months at a time.
To see a short video clip with Buffalo go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onAvTQ1oocM
Buffalo told me that in all the years he has observed day labor centers he has
only seen 2 or 3 white guys try to find work at them. In each case they were
chased away by militant community organizers like Salvador Reza.
To see a short animated video clip with Reza go here:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1204348/salvador_reza/
So, based on Buffalo s information which I consider very reliable and
credible, this article is mostly bunk. Of course there is always the
possibility that the Phoenix economy is so much better than Las Vegas that
white guys aren t yet desperate to resort to standing on street corners to
look for work.
There are a few other things about the Las Vegas article that bug me besides
the fact that most of it is probably not true. This brainless attack on Lou
Dobbs does have one ounce of truth -- if Americans do start showing up at day
labor centers, expect conflict -- and riots. The militant Hispanics that run
the labor centers are racist and hostile and that will add up to a witches
brew of trouble as these groups clash with each.
If the numbers of citizens among the day laborers in cities across
the country continue to grow, it s likely to increase the ire of
followers of TV host Lou Dobbs and others who will see illegal
immigrants as stealing food off the tables of the nation s
native-born or naturalized poor. Workers at all the sites said the
presence of the americanos hasn t made work scarcer or produced
any conflict.
The following blooper is really funny if you stop to think about it.
Buchanan, a white guy, couldn t get work at the day labor center -- but he did
get a sunburn. Eventually he got work, but only because his skin was probably
dark enough to pass as a Mexican. He probably started wearing a straw hat and
learned some Spanish also.
One July day, Buchanan gave it a try. At first, he got nothing but
sunburn. But then he started to get work. Now he s at the Home Depot
six days most weeks.
This last one seems very racist, and explains why white guys probably
shouldn t bother showing up at the day labor centers until their numbers are
large enough to defend themselves. If you have any doubts about how the U.S.
is becoming Balkanized, this should clue you in.
Workers at all the sites said the presence of the americanos hasn t
made work scarcer or produced any conflict. Some suggested that
people hiring day laborers prefer Hispanics anyway, because of their
reputation as hard workers.
<<< SHORT VETERAN S DAY STORY >>>
Since it's Veteran's Day, let me diverge to tell all a little more about
Buffalo Rick Galeener, who I consider to be a real life hero and patriot.
Buffalo Rick is a Vietnam War Veteran that served the Navy on the USS
Enterprise. They call themselves the "blue water navy" because our government
arbitrarily decided not to treat them for health problems they suffered as a
result of Agent Orange exposure. If you are wondering about how nationalized
health care works, Buffalo could tell ya!
http://www.bluewaternavy.org/
Blue Water Navy
More about Buffalo's activism on the Agent Orange issue can be read here:
http://www.theepitaph.com/news/1-news/211-veterans-seek-assistance-for-agent-orange-diease
Galeener said his battle against the adverse heath effects of the
toxin has been made difficult by a recently enacted policy that
precludes veterans who were not in a combat zone when they were
exposed to Agent Orange from receiving long-term heath care.
"If your boots never hit the ground, not only will you not be
compensated for Agent Orange but they won t even recognize you,"
Galeener said during a ceremony honoring the veterans. "They
will treat your cancer and then they ll cut you loose."
These war vets are denied a lot of other compensation benefits but this one is
one of the toughest to swallow:
Because the Department of Defense has determined those wounded by
Agent Orange do not qualify for The Purple Heart, the Order of
Silver Rose is instead awarded to recognize the courage and
heroism of veterans.
LINKS:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/nov/02/new-faces-day-labor/
The new faces of day labor
http://www.theepitaph.com/news/1-news/211-veterans-seek-assistance-for-agent-orange-diease
Veterans seek assistance for Agent Orange disease
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/nov/02/new-faces-day-labor/
The new faces of day labor
U.S. citizens are joining immigrants in store parking lots Image
Steve Marcus
Ken Buchanan, left, waits for work at a Home Depot Thursday morning. Most
weeks he s there six days. The most he s made in a week: $140.
By Timothy Pratt (contact)
Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 | 2 a.m.
It sounds like a George Lopez joke.
"Times are so bad that I saw an Anglo day laborer standing outside Home Depot
the other day."
Except it s true.
In the latest sign of the Las Vegas Valley s economic free fall, U.S.
citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings outside home
improvement stores and plant nurseries across the Las Vegas Valley, jostling
with illegal immigrants for a shot at a few hours of work.
Experts say the slow-starting but seemingly inexorable trend is occurring
nationwide.
"It s the equivalent of selling apples in the Great Depression," said Harley
Shaiken, chairman of the Center for Latin American studies at the University
of California, Berkeley.
But it is not only a sign of the times, they add. If the numbers of citizens
among the day laborers in cities across the country continue to grow, it s
likely to increase the ire of followers of TV host Lou Dobbs and others who
will see illegal immigrants as stealing food off the tables of the nation s
native-born or naturalized poor.
Or, it may flip certain canards upside down in the immigration debate, easing
tensions in some communities.
In the Las Vegas Valley, where the most recent unemployment rate was 13.9
percent, one face of this phenomenon is Ken Buchanan. The 50-year-old
describes himself as a "food and beverage" guy, most recently working for four
years at Renata s Sunset Lanes casino and, before that, 30 years in a string
of restaurants, hotels and casinos here and in his birthplace, Chicago.
But in 2006 Renata s closed for remodeling. When the casino reopened as
Wildfire, the management did not rehire Buchanan, he said.
In the months that followed, Buchanan discovered the difficulty of seeking
work in his fifth decade, eventually winding up at Green Valley Car Wash,
where he stayed for about two years, he said.
The banks foreclosed on the house he was renting. In the attempt to grab his
things two steps ahead of the constable, he wound up missing work. He lost his
job. He became homeless.
The Home Depot
Map data )2009 Google - Terms of Use
A Hispanic man Buchanan met in Renata s sports book told him he had picked up
work standing outside the Home Depot on Pecos Road at Patrick Lane. One July
day, Buchanan gave it a try. At first, he got nothing but sunburn. But then he
started to get work. Now he s at the Home Depot six days most weeks.
Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the Los Angeles-based National Day
Laborer Organizing Network, said he has been seeing the same thing elsewhere.
"It s happening, though still not in massive numbers,"
Alvarado said. In the past six months or so, he has heard of "americanos"
on the street corners and parking lots of Silver Spring, Md., Long Island,
N.Y., and Southern California locations.
"It s just beginning," he said. "But I think it s only going to increase."
A recent morning s swing through the valley produced reports of the same
phenomenon. At Star Nursery on Cheyenne Road west of Tenaya Way, Nicolas stood
shivering under a hooded sweatshirt, hoping a car or pickup would stop. The
Mexican immigrant said he had seen a couple of "white guys"
showing up recently, though not on the blustery cold days last week.
At Home Depot on Decatur Boulevard north of Tropicana Avenue, Jose said the
same thing, adding that "it s never more than three or four, but they re
coming out."
Farther south, in front of Moon Valley Nursery on Eastern Avenue, Israel said
a couple of "americanos" -- white and black, he added -- have come out for
work in recent months. "But they tend to stay only a few days."
As a salesman at Moon Valley, Mike Fugitt s job includes making sure the
laborers don t come into the nursery s parking lot, because their presence
draws complaints from some customers. In the past three months or so, he said,
more of those laborers have been telling him, "But I m an American." That
includes some Hispanics, he added. "But I treat them all the same; they can t
be trespassing," he said.
Workers at all the sites said the presence of the americanos hasn t made work
scarcer or produced any conflict. Some suggested that people hiring day
laborers prefer Hispanics anyway, because of their reputation as hard workers.
Shaiken said shaking up the mix at day labor sites may eventually produce
conflict in the greater society. "It essentially shreds the argument that
Americans don t want certain jobs," he said.
In the current economy, he added, "we re almost sure to see die-hard opponents
of illegal immigrants seize on the fact that we have legal workers in day
labor markets," heating an already-inflamed debate.
In the longer term, it may also lead to a more rigorous analysis of future
labor markets, including revised estimates of how many immigrants would be
needed under a guest worker program, as proposed in recent congressional
bills.
At the same time, Shaiken said, the issue won t become central to the debate
before Congress over what is known as comprehensive reform, including a
pathway for legalizing millions of workers. "The point is, do we really want a
labor market with day labor work as a career path? It s more a commentary on
the economy right now," he said.
Although Alvarado allowed that the change in day labor sites was an undeniable
sign of the withering economy, he also sees a "beautiful irony"
in U.S. citizens seeking work as day laborers.
That s because his organization has defended the free-speech rights of day
laborers in at least 10 court cases over more than a decade. Up to now, courts
have ruled in favor of the laborers.
"We always knew (these cases) would be useful not only for immigrants, but
also for U.S. citizens," Alvarado said. "We knew there would be a time when
the economy would reach this point, and they also would be looking for work
this way."
Buchanan likes to wear a Cubs or White Sox cap as a sign of his Chicago
heritage when he stands with one or two Hispanic laborers about 20 yards south
of a larger crowd. He said he has gone through an education of sorts in the
past four months. He has always worked around Hispanics in restaurants, hotels
and casinos, but now he understands the issue of immigration from up close.
His sojourn got off to a rocky start. On one of his first days on the street
outside Home Depot, another laborer told him he should move along because too
many people were at the spot.
"I told him, I m an American citizen and you re trying to push me off
American soil? " The man walked away, and Buchanan says he hasn t had another
problem with his competitors since.
Instead, Buchanan has found himself defending the rights of his fellow
laborers on more than one occasion. One day, a man tried to hire a bunch of
them for $5 an hour. Again, Buchanan pulled out the "citizen card." But this
time, he was telling the other person that he, a U.S. citizen, knew about
minimum wage laws, and was going to make sure those laws were followed. "I
said, You want me to write down your license plate number? " Buchanan
recalled. The guy drove away.
Now, he said, "I get along with everybody here."
He stands in a smaller group because he thinks that helps to get work. He
reads the daily tea leaves of the trade, like the end of the month being a
good time for moving jobs, because many people are moving in or out. His best
week so far: $140. His longest stint without work: the first two weeks, "until
I learned to be more aggressive."
Antonio Bernabe, day labor organizer for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant
Rights of Los Angeles, said the appearance of more and more U.S. citizens
seeking day labor work on corners and in parking lots poses new challenges for
organizations such as his. In recent months, he said, he has found himself
explaining to a whole new group the legal rights of workers, as well as
approaching local authorities to discuss the entry of new people into what he
called "the world of day labor." That group includes blacks and Asians, he
said.
Another difference is that now he s giving those explanations to laborers in
English.
Bernabe said organizers came across one case where a local sheriff had been
sending officers to answer complaints about day laborers and then found one
day that the sheriff s neighbor, a citizen, was among them. Police in that
area have been less likely to harass laborers since then, he said.
These events will occur more, changing people s attitudes in the process, he
said.
"For a long time, people have looked at day laborers and said, The problem is
the immigrants. Now the economy is changing. Now people may see it s a
problem of the labor market, of the rights of workers,"
Bernabe said.
Buchanan, meanwhile, looks forward to a future that includes a steady job and
an apartment. "I m trying to dig my way out of this," he said. When he does,
however, he sees himself as a changed man.
"Before, I was part of the majority. Now I m part of the minority ...
I m not going to forget this. I m not going to forget any of this."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.theepitaph.com/news/1-news/211-veterans-seek-assistance-for-agent-orange-diease
Veterans seek assistance for Agent Orange disease
Written by Mack Kearns
Thursday, 10 September 2009 22:48
"Buffalo" Rick Galeener wants veterans debilitated by Agent Orange to receive
the treatment they deserve.
He and other Vietnam veterans gathered in Tombstone Aug. 29 to honor fellow
soldiers who suffer the debilitating health effects of the toxic herbicide
that chemically wounded many during the 16-year conflict and in other wars,
too.
[(Back row from left) ]
(Back row from left)
The thunderous sound of rumbling motorcycle engines signaled the arrival of a
pack of about 50 veterans. With American flags waving, the group paraded down
Allen Street before assembling at the American Legion to hold a brief ceremony
in which six veterans were awarded a special honor -- the Order of the Silver
Rose -- in recognition for the sacrifices they made in defending their
country.
The diseases that stem from exposure to Agent Orange are numerous -- leukemia,
Hodgkin s disease and chronic breathing problems are at the top of a list that
includes diabetes, heart disease and many forms of cancer.
According to a veterans group, more than 100,000 members of the armed forces
who fought in Vietnam have been stricken with Agent Orange-related illnesses.
Many veterans like Galeener feel there is not enough recognition within the
armed forces and the military health system for those who suffer or have died
from the toxic agent -- especially toward Navy veterans.
"I came home in 1970 from Vietnam," Galeener said. "I d served on the USS
Enterprise -- came home with out a scratch. Thirty years later, they wanted to
take my left leg off because of a 10-pound tumor."
Galeener said his battle against the adverse heath effects of the toxin has
been made difficult by a recently enacted policy that precludes veterans who
were not in a combat zone when they were exposed to Agent Orange from
receiving long-term heath care.
"If your boots never hit the ground, not only will you not be compensated for
Agent Orange but they won t even recognize you," Galeener said during a
ceremony honoring the veterans. "They will treat your cancer and then they ll
cut you loose."
Unlike ground forces who came into direct contact with the herbicide, which
was used to remove concealing foliage, Galeener was unknowingly exposed to the
toxin on board ship.
"The distillation systems boosted the dioxins instead of taking them out,"
Galeener said. "We were drinking it, showering in it, preparing food with it -
- everything on board ship. And the guys on board ship are the ones who got
cut out of compensation for it."
In order to recognize veterans, the Order of the Silver Rose, which is a
private organization, is dedicated to raising funding and awareness for
victims of Agent Orange. Because the Department of Defense has determined
those wounded by Agent Orange do not qualify for The Purple Heart, the Order
of Silver Rose is instead awarded to recognize the courage and heroism of
veterans.
Sgt. Donald Bush served as an assault helicopter gunner in Vietnam. He now
suffers from severe breathing problems and diabetes. Bush said he felt
welcomed and honored by the award.
"It was like a homecoming for us," Bush said of the ceremony. "When I got off
the plane from Vietnam a lady spit on me. People were so anti-Vietnam then,
they d almost call you a traitor. So, it s so nice that people will recognize
us today. It brought tears to my eyes."
Those that received the Order of the Silver Rose were: Ronald Heilman, David
Dubois, Donald Bush, Dennis Giles, Ernest Molina and Frank Stone.
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