But he is supposed to uphold the law, I sputter. You have forgotten your roots, dear, they said. No, no, I have not, I swear. I am proud that my grandmother scrubbed floors, said I.
An explosion hit me. First of all, said Grandma, that was on your father’s side. I never scrubbed a floor in my life. Just like you, dear, whose nickname should be Swiffer. Why does every Irish person in this town tell everyone that Grandma scrubbed floors? You people don’t even kneel down for Communion.
You did not get on a boat knowing you would never see your parents again. You did not live in a tenement in a crowded city with no heat. You have never worked a day in your life. I work hard, I protest, but I know they have me. I don’t have to lift anything heavier than a telephone all day long. That isn’t work.
So why are you bugging me about this, Grandma? Because you talk about immigrants as if you know the first thing about it. You take credit for what we did. You act like you had something to do with it. Do you know what it takes to move to another country, knowing that you don’t have the education to get a good job? That nobody will hire you anyway, because every group that comes here is shiftless and lazy? The Native Americans wouldn’t give a job to anyone on the Mayflower, you know. “Those people are lazy thieves and should go back where they came from,” that’s what the Wampanoag said on talk radio.
Well, okay, maybe they were right, dear, but anyway. Italians, Jews, Irish, Poles, French, Swedes, Brazilians, Dominicans, Germans, Norwegians, Scots, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, Cubans, Mexicans, we were all called the same thing: lazy and shiftless. Then we were given a bonus insult, like drunkenness for the Irish. I don’t think shiftless is a real word, Grandpa mutters. There’s no such thing as shiftful. What is shiftless?
How are people punished after life for hiring undocumented workers, Grandpa? Those pearly gates don’t paint themselves, he said, and St. Peter hands them a very tiny brush.
So give the governor a break. Unless, of course, the workers weren’t making a living wage.
Then he’s in big trouble.
By Monique Doyle Spencer
I like your story and the way you tell it. But you miss the point about Romney. The issue is hypocrisy, and the sense the people have that he, like others, says he wants to to build a wall to keep (illegal) immigrants out, while at the same time benefitting from the hard work (illegal) immigrants do. Putting up a wall and creating a guest worker program will not so much keep illegal immigrants out, as it will make those who are here and those who will continue to come that much more vulnerable. Romney and others should just admit that illegal immigrants are wanted and needed. Many businesses rely on the hard work of illegal immigrants to keep their costs down, and increase profits. Romney should work to help workers maintain legal status and make it easier for those immigrants whose paperwork is less than perfect, or whose time has run out, to more easily have their status updated without a lot of trouble, so they can enjoy their lives–and continue to work hard and raise their families and contribute to our society here, as well as to send money to their families back home in their countries if they want.
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Why not change the system to make it easier for immigrants to update the paperwork and get the kind of residency and work permits that are need to keep working and living here, and yes, get drivers licenses, and send their kids to public colleges at the in-state tuition rates. For crying out loud, where is all this “anti-immigrant” stuff coming from, if it isn’t coming from the businesses who are benefitting the most from the system of vulnerable illegals that we have. The point seems to be not to get rid of illegal immigrants but to keep reinforcing their illegal status, thus keeping them vulnerable. This is crazy! Is it 1924?
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Maybe that’s what your dream was about, and if I am allowed to interpret someone else’s dream, that’s what I think I heard your grandparents (and mine) saying.
Romney made sure the workers were paid fairly? That Romney had compassion to help them obtain legal status? That anyone cared about their families back in Guatamala?
No, I don’t think any of those things. I think he didn’t give a damn. I’m saying that we are all hypocrites on this subject. We all use child labor, directly or indirectly. We all use sweatshops, directly or indirectly. We all abuse illegal immigrants, as if we learned nothing from our ancestors. My grandparents would be ashamed of all of us, including me.
It was the 1950’s, and an attempt was made then to deport illegal immigrants. I remember, though, that because so many used midwives in those day, and paperwork was sketchy, that many born in the 1920’s were unable to produce birth certificates. So baptismal certificates were also accepted.
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St. Peter’s parish, where I grew up, had a ‘reputation’ for the convenient backdating of baptismal records – all between friends, of course.