May 6, 2013

Good meme: Gang of Eight lets Southern white plantation owners discriminate against blacks

Typical Southern white farmer
You know and I know that the Gang of Eight's immigration bill is a grotesque farrago of mechanisms for special interests to exploit the public, but then you and I are horrible people for knowing that. Think of the DREAM children!

But, the more the spotlight gets shone on those special interests who each have their trotters in the immigration bill's trough, the more interesting things become. The Establishment's amnesty offensive is a rickety contraption and has the potential to implode, just like it did in 2001, 2004, 2006, and 2007. 

For example, it's promising that Mark Zuckerberg, the subject of The Social Network, has managed to insert his divisive personality into the immigration debate. Now Ethan Bronner of the New York Times has perhaps inadvertently opened the door for another traditional bad guy to take center stage: the Southern white farmer.
Workers Claim Race Bias as Farms Rely on Immigrants

By ETHAN BRONNER 
VIDALIA, Ga. — For years, labor unions and immigrant rights activists have accused large-scale farmers, like those harvesting sweet Vidalia onions here this month, of exploiting Mexican guest workers. Working for hours on end under a punishing sun, the pickers are said to be crowded into squalid camps, driven without a break and even cheated of wages.

But as Congress weighs immigration legislation expected to expand the guest worker program, another group is increasingly crying foul — Americans, mostly black, who live near the farms and say they want the field work but cannot get it because it is going to Mexicans. They contend that they are illegally discouraged from applying for work and treated shabbily by farmers who prefer the foreigners for their malleability. 
“They like the Mexicans because they are scared and will do anything they tell them to,” said Sherry Tomason, who worked for seven years in the fields here, then quit. Last month she and other local residents filed a federal lawsuit against a large grower of onions, Stanley Farms, alleging that it mistreated them and paid them less than it paid the Mexicans. 
The suit is one of a number of legal actions containing similar complaints against farms, including a large one in Moultrie, Ga., where Americans said they had been fired because of their race and national origin, given less desirable jobs and provided with fewer work opportunities than Mexican guest workers. Under a consent decree with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the farm, Southern Valley, agreed to make certain changes. 
With local unemployment about 10 percent and the bureaucracy for hiring foreigners onerous — guest workers have to be imported and housed and require extensive paperwork — it would seem natural for farmers to hire from their own communities, which they did a generation ago. ...
Mr. Stanley, like other farmers, argues that Americans who say they want the work end up quitting because it is hard, leaving the crops to rot in the fields.  

But, in response to this normally unanswerable crops-rotting-in-the-fields argument, the New York Times article printed two paragraphs of sheer racist hate-filled common sense economic analysis that normally you only read in the most disreputable rags:
"... farm work, like other difficult labor, could be made attractive to Americans at reasonable cost, and that farmers should not be excused from doing so. 
“There used to be lots of American pickers who moved around the country,” he said. “But wages have stagnated and conditions have deteriorated, and agriculture is unwilling to make these jobs attractive. Think of trash collection. That’s not very appealing, either. But if you offer a decent wage and conditions, people do it.”

Who dared say such evil?
"Jim Knoepp of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit group that has campaigned against the guest worker program..."

This could get fun.

39 comments:

Socially Extinct said...

Will "malleability" be the new HBD meme? Whites will naturally have the highest malleability scores with Asians a very close second. In fact, in some regions, Asian malleability will surpass that of Whites and be in class of its own.

Hispanic malleability will fall a distant 3rd, and Black malleability will sink into the subzero wastelands.

"Malleability" is a great word.

William said...

Of course, they can get away with saying such things, so long as the object of their ire are people as obviously evil and depraved as Southern Whites.

Many people commenting on a recent New York Times op-ed about capital punishment in Mississippi opined that the federal government should simply send in the military to occupy the South. And they wonder why we Southerner "cling" to our guns. With "fellow Americans" like these, who needs enemies?

JeremiahJohnbalaya said...

The plan to place those workers on a path to legal status would reduce the chances of their being exploited, the bill’s sponsors say, and thereby also improve the status of Americans who feel they cannot compete against vulnerable foreigners.

If they had just started and stopped w/ this sentence, it wouldn't be nearly so interesting, but it would focus their argument better.

Simon in London said...

"Jim Knoepp of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit group that has campaigned against the guest worker program..."

Well, good on him for actually being pro-black for once. I thought the SPLC was entirely focused on being anti-white. Since immigration 'reform' is both anti-white and anti-black, it's a good distinguisher.

Anonymous said...

You know and I know that the Gang of Eight's immigration bill is a grotesque farrago of mechanisms for special interests to exploit the public, but then you and I are horrible people for knowing that.

If you recognize the power of special interests, how could you have been so invested in the presidential election?

Anonymous said...

I've recently come to the conclusion that the middle-class was fabricated as a cold war tactic. With the threat of communism decidedly behind them, they are on their way to dissolving the middle class. The neo nobility do not want a neo bourgeoisie. Not sure if this concept is my own or even if I'm misusing any terms, but you get the gist.

Steve Sailer said...

Not wholly implausible.

Ex Submarine Officer said...

When I left the South in the early 1980's, all the guys riding around in the back of work trucks were black or white

When I came back 10 years later, they were all Mexicans or Central Americans.

I'm surprised it has taken this long for a backlash. But the 90's and early 00's were pretty comfy. Things are tightening up now....

Anonymous said...

We would be better off if certain groups went back to picking cotton. The ones who used to do that work, amazingly, understood the value of education, both for themselves and for their children.

But before you blame these farmers, talk to anyone who has had to manage low-level employees of same said group. Talk about a bad combination: bad work habits and quick to take offense at being asked/expected to work.

Ex Submarine Officer said...

I've recently come to the conclusion that the middle-class was fabricated as a cold war tactic. With the threat of communism decidedly behind them, they are on their way to dissolving the middle class. The neo nobility do not want a neo bourgeoisie. Not sure if this concept is my own or even if I'm misusing any terms, but you get the gist.

Right after the Berlin Wall fell and the USSR dissolved, I used to say that the end of the Cold War was not only going to bring capitalism to the Soviet bloc, but to the West as well.

I used to say that as sort of a joke, then as time progressed, as an increasingly serious topic for discussion.

Now, I'm just wondering where the bottom is on all this. The days of 2008 when there was even some outrage about the "bailout" seems like an idyllic and carefree era.

Where does this all end?

DJF said...

What should replace both Mexicans and Blacks in the picking and sorting of Vidalia onions is machinery just like has been done with cotton. But with the flood of low wage Mexicans that is not happening. The same thing happened prior to WW2 when machinery to pick cotton could not compete against cheap labor, it was only after WW2 that the cotton machine become widespread and that was because the cheap American labor was working for better wages in the factories and Eisenhower deported the Mexicans.

It would also help if the Federal government which has no problem spending billions to develop robot war machines and even robot mules would spend a little on developing vegetable and fruit picking machines. But I guess we need robot mules instead so they can be used to carry bundles of $100 bills to our warlord friends in places like Afghanistan.

Cail Corishev said...

Think of trash collection. That’s not very appealing, either. But if you offer a decent wage and conditions, people do it.

Ha! I've posted that exact point here and elsewhere more than once over the past couple years: no one wants to pick up trash for a living, but in my town it's a job people wait in line for and use nepotism to get, because it pays well and has great benefits. We could have Mexicans pick up trash for a quarter of the price, but then local politicians wouldn't be able to give good jobs to their nephews. So they keep the pay high, and it just happens to be one of the jobs Americans still love to do.

Methinks Mr. Knoepp may have been lurking on these comment threads. Hi Jim!

Michael R. said...

"Americans, mostly black, who live near the farms and say they want the field work but cannot get it because it is going to Mexicans."


Sure, because employers just owe jobs to blacks. Its like the woman with 15 kids who says someone else must pay for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBqjZ0KZCa0

Anonymous said...

"They like Mexicans because they are scared and will do anything they tell them to do..."

Is it me, or does this sound exactly like what some of the black baseball players were saying about the Dominicans a couple years ago?

Anonymous said...

There are bad southern polticians Haley Barbour comes to mind and Lindsey Grahram, they are just as bad as Jeff Flake and John MCCain. The reason why it took the south long to wake up is that they loved George W Bush for about 6 years and finally discovered what happen to their states.

Anonymous said...

Why do Native Americans have the reputation for being more docile, and therefore better workers? When the New World was first conquered, it was the opposite: blacks had the reputation of being the more docile stoop laborers?

For Example:
"Both Indian slavery and white servitude were to go down before the black man's superior endurance, docility, and labour capacity." (Dr. John Spencer quoted in Booker T. Washington, The Story of the Negro: The Rise of the Race from Slavery Vol. 1 (New York: Doubleday and Co., 1909) 113).

Richard A. said...

Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/close-to-slavery-guestworker-programs-in-the-united-states#.UYkPcMp7R8H

Anonymous said...

Why do Native Americans have the reputation for being more docile, and therefore better workers? When the New World was first conquered, it was the opposite: blacks had the reputation of being the more docile stoop laborers?

The Northern Indians were possibly a different breed than the Aztec-Mayan-Southern Mexico-Central American ones?

Anonymous said...

Why do Native Americans have the reputation for being more docile, and therefore better workers? When the New World was first conquered, it was the opposite: blacks had the reputation of being the more docile stoop laborers?

At the time, they were a free people defending their homeland. Blacks only knew slavery and the consequence of not following orders.

Richard A. said...

Understanding the guest worker concept-
http://www.blackcommentator.com/224/224_images/224_cartoon_guest_worker_auction_large.jpg

Dr Van Nostrand said...


Why do Native Americans have the reputation for being more docile, and therefore better workers? When the New World was first conquered, it was the opposite: blacks had the reputation of being the more docile stoop laborers?"

Isnt the answer obvious. Native Americans were free and blacks were not.
Blacks are now liberated and triumphant while native Americans are defeated and while not enslaved are broken economically and otherwise.

Dr Van Nostrand said...


I've recently come to the conclusion that the middle-class was fabricated as a cold war tactic. With the threat of communism decidedly behind them, they are on their way to dissolving the middle class. The neo nobility do not want a neo bourgeoisie. Not sure if this concept is my own or even if I'm misusing any terms, but you get the gist."

Was there no middle class before the Great Depression?

Polymath said...

It's Central American and South American natives who were relatively docile, North American natives were notoriously proud, defiant, and unsuitable as slaves.

Anonymous said...

Man Leo is starting to look like Speaker Boehner.

Anonmia said...


"Sure, because employers just owe jobs to blacks. Its like the woman with 15 kids who says someone else must pay for it:"

Well, Michael R., the employers in question do owe jobs to American citizens rather than illegals.

Anonymous said...

completely off-topic but

"Think of trash collection. That’s not very appealing, either."

I had to do this for a while once as part of something else and it's actually very zen. I'd recommend it for anyone with mental health issues.

Anonymous said...

"It would also help if the Federal government which has no problem spending billions to develop robot war machines and even robot mules would spend a little on developing vegetable and fruit picking machines."

Spot on.

.
"Privilege is being the standard against which all other groups are measured."

Privilege is being able to attack other ethnic groups without them being able to attack back - plus great writers need empathy so no.

Anonymous said...

Asians are better students. Mexicans are better laborers. Blacks are better athletes and musicians. Jews are better writers, lawyers, and dentists. Heterogeneous cultures are more vibrant. Natives are more spiritual. Homosexuals are more vivacious. Women are more democratic. Privilege is being the standard against which all other groups are measured.

But no group can bring all those attributes together at as high a level as European-derived men. They can truly do it all.

Hmm. said...

I wish I could send my kids into the fields to pick onions for a summer.

They could use the experience.

Instead of expensive philanthropy tourism for teens to go to Costa Rica to get material to write up on their college applications,

why doesn't somebody set up cheap employment tourism for teens to go to American farms and experience back-breaking labor, the better to appreciate their eventual desk jobs?

rob said...

Michael R. said...
"Americans, mostly black, who live near the farms and say they want the field work but cannot get it because it is going to Mexicans."

Sure, because employers just owe jobs to blacks...


Companies and their managers are obligated to obey laws. Employing people who are not authorized to work in the US is illegal. The criminals employing the illegals and the illegals benefit. Otherwise they wouldn't do it. We all get that. So we should change the laws, right? Wrongedy wrong wrong. not bad because it's illegal. It's illegal because it's bad.

Selling non-prescription methamphetamine is profitable. If the customers didn't benefit, they wouldn't buy it. It's illegal. Everyone benefits,so the problem is the law, right? Again, wrongedy wrongedy wrong wrong wrong.

Domestic violence is illegal. It's not bad because it's illegal. It's illegal because it's bad.

No farmer has to employ anyone at all. Pretty much any business can close down whenever it wants. No farmer has to keep farming.

By golly, No one has any right to a job from Facebook. Not even current employees, beyond any contracts Facebook chose to make. Facebook does not have any right to a profit. No one owes America owes it to Facebook to keep labor costs low.

A Heinlein quote is apt. 'There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.'

Higher wages and better working conditions are progress.

rob said...

Jews are better writers, lawyers, and dentists.

Not that this really on topic, but why would Jews make better dentists? The DAT, the standardized test for dental school admission, is almost entirely visuospatial. Jewish mean performance IQ is low to mid nineties.

Mr. Anon said...

I don't know. Poverty? In the South? Isn't that rather far afield from the SPLC's mission?

David Davenport said...

I've recently come to the conclusion that the middle-class was fabricated as a cold war tactic. With the threat of communism decidedly behind them, they are on their way to dissolving the middle class. The neo nobility do not want a neo bourgeoisie. Not sure if this concept is my own or even if I'm misusing any terms, but you get the gist."

Was there no middle class before the Great Depression?


Yes, there was a 20th century American middle class. It was not fabricated. They were the people who elected Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower,* Ronnie R., Bush Sr. and Jr., and the unjustly vilified Richard Nixon. Herbert H. also gets a raw deal in popular histories of the Depression.

During the Cold War years, the American boss class wanted to show that the American system paid common Americans better than the ostensibly Marxist regimes of the Warsaw pact and Red China.

After roughly 1989, there was no longer a Communist enemy to be feared. Therefore, the USA boss class decided that it no longer needed loyal middle and working class Americans.

Free free free trade with China and the rest of the world has been very good for Americans with significant equity portfolios.

* Cue for some iStevie to recite a history anecdote about Mamie Eisenhower's cloth coat.

Anonymous said...

Jews are better writers


Based on all the Jewish writers I've read, on paper and on-line, that's not the case. It does seem to be the case that it is a lot easier to get published if you're Jewish though.

go $PLC go said...

In the words of Cronos, "You're wild, man--WIILLLD." Can I assume the Center will be quoted approvingly in the 1st graf of every Vdare.com Gaestarbeiter post for, like, the next 5-10 years at least?

Anonymous said...

That might well be the best surprise ending I've ever read in an iSteve post.

From here on out, I am truly eager to the the three-ring circus this debate becomes. Which hatefacts will cross over and become Realfacts(TM)? Which formerly-respectable urban liberals will be burned upon the pyre of True Liberalism? And what, fellow readers, will that pyre be stoked with -- sympathy for poor, defenseless Blacks or sympathy for poor, defenseless Illegal Immigrants?

Svigor said...

Based on all the Jewish writers I've read, on paper and on-line, that's not the case. It does seem to be the case that it is a lot easier to get published if you're Jewish though.

Taste varies, obviously. Jews are so very urban that I suppose they have a hard time writing anything sublime involving the great outdoors, for example. Or about military service outside Israel, for another.

Anonymous said...

During the Cold War years, the American boss class wanted to show that the American system paid common Americans better than the ostensibly Marxist regimes of the Warsaw pact and Red China.

=Fabricated

David Davenport said...

... =Fabricated

What part of my post was fabricated? Please explain.