The caller wanted to know whom she could talk to vent. I told her she could start with me.
"It's just disgusting you would put that in your paper," she said.
She was talking about a photo in Sunday's Chapel Hill News of a man building a stone wall on East Franklin Street. The man looks Latino, and the caller believes he's an illegal immigrant taking away jobs from tradesmen like her husband, a mason. I asked how she knew the man in the photo was here illegally.
"Well, you know as well as I do," she said.
She was upset. She was shouting. I told her to stop yelling but to keep talking. She said stone masonry used to be an art (Chapel Hill is known for its stone walls; that's why I assigned the picture after seeing it on my drive to work.)
"I like it that we're liberal," the caller said. "It's just disgusting you would put that in your paper."
Her husband's job is not a job that Americans don't want, she continued. "We're at the point where we almost have to move out of the county."
I could hear shouting in the background. "I hate you guys too!" I can't repeat what else the male voice said, but his mother said that was her son. "He's mad because we can't pay for him to go to college."
I wasn't going to argue with the caller. It wasn't necessary. She was giving us feedback, and all feedback helps. Sometimes we listen for facts, and sometmes we listen for emotions. It's all truth.
Comments
Grow Up Liberals...
Mon, 10/06/2008 - 17:27 — maryellenraayofsunThere is NOTHING racist about being disgusted with the HUGE increase in drunk driving, crime, diseases, excess garbage, overcrowded schools, and all the other degradation being thrust upon this nation because of illegals...I remember North Carolina, New York and Florida before all of this...As a Baby Boomer I have seen this country go to hell in a handbasket...Nobody gave my Grandparents freebies when they came through Ellis Island from Sicily...All you PC liberals who have appointed yourselves as part of the "welcome wagon" need to escort the illegals back to their homeland and help them in THEIR OWN COUNTRY !!!!!!
Peace...
Mary Ellen Armstrong
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/maryellen
How ridiculous. Obviously
Wed, 08/06/2008 - 17:10 — Anonymous (not verified)How ridiculous. Obviously these racist morons have never lived in, say, California or the southwest US, where there are families of Hispanic descent who have lived in the US for generations. More generations than me (whiter than white) -- my grandfather came here from another country. I know someone here, a salesman at a car dealership, who is named Rubio -- he comes from Texas and doesn't speak a word of Spanish, even though he looks about as Mexican Indian as can be. You just can't assume that because someone looks Hispanic and works in construction that they are an illegal immigrant taking jobs from Americans. I say it again, racist morons.
Have some sympathy for the
Wed, 08/06/2008 - 12:08 — chcommentHave some sympathy for the callers. They are obviously very upset. Walk in their shoes for just a moment. They are likely losing their livelyhood to cheap labor being exploited by businesses in the area. Maybe their child is losing their spot at university to an illegal immigrant. Just happens most of them are from south of the US border and are latino. And it happens that most of them are here illegally(see the studies from UNC). Don't be so quick to call them racist. Latino is not a race. Maybe they were wrong to call in and let loose. But likely they feel helpless and do not know where to go.
Looks like her son is
Tue, 08/05/2008 - 15:04 — CRickard (not verified)Looks like her son is growing up to have the same racists beliefs as his mother. Bravo, caller.
Wish we could see the photo
Mon, 08/04/2008 - 14:29 — Anonymous (not verified)Wish we could see the photo in question. Not all of us who read here get the CH News.
You don't have to be latino
Mon, 08/04/2008 - 13:09 — Anonymous (not verified)I've been told to 'go back home' when I dared to argue with an 'American' and I'm as white as they come but my accent (north of England) is a dead give away that I was not born here even though my family and I are all here legally.
Maybe it's easier for use since our looks and skin color don;t make us stand out from the majority of white citizens but don't be fooled into thinking that that is all it takes to be singled out.
Racism is just plain nasty, no matter where you are in the world and it is not just limited to whites.
Amazing.
Mon, 08/04/2008 - 12:37 — acidqueenThat's like the drunken idiots at my former place of employment (a convenience store) that used to tell me to "go back to [expletive] Mexico" whenever I would deny an alcohol sale and the fifth-grade teacher I had who used to regularly call me a "wetback", "border-jumper" and "bean-eater" (among other anti-Hispanic slurs) because I was originally from Southern California and tan easily....
...despite the fact that I'm Italian. Because, y'know, Italy is totally part of Mexico.
Yep!
Mon, 08/04/2008 - 12:27 — fhblackOnce again we confirm that there are people in these parts who can just look at someone and determine their income, citizenship, intentions, education, and whatever else might be significant to the observer.
Remember the flurry of denials when I commented on how people make similar judgments about people on the street just based on their "looks?"