Mexican leader criticized for comment on blacks
 

Mexican leader criticized for comment on blacks
Sunday, May 15, 2005 Posted: 9:08 AM EDT (1308 GMT)

(CNN) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Saturday criticized Mexican President Vicente Fox's comment that Mexican immigrants to the United States take jobs "that not even blacks want to do."

Jackson called the remark "a spurious comparison" with "ominous racial overtones."

The Mexican president's office issued a statement late Saturday disputing the negative interpretation of his comments, saying Fox has "enormous respect to minorities whatever their racial, ethnic, or religious origin may be."

Mexican official defended Fox later in the day, saying his description was not meant as an insult.

"The president didn't make a declaration in the racist sense; of course there are those who interpret it in that way," Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Derbez told a reporter in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

According to Derbez, Fox was making the point that "Mexican migrants are making great contributions in the United States and that their role is a positive role."


Read The Rest Here


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After I read this, all I could think of was WTH?!? :mad: :eek: Its not just blacks that won't take those types of jobs but everybody else too (whites, asians, etc.). :mad:

Hmmm...I guess I can see Jesse's point. But there is truth to the statement. Companies use Mexicans to do any and everything. Rent "A Day Without Mexicans".

^^
I see truth to it, particularly in Southern California where I am from.

Agreed.

Here in the DC metro area, there is growing truth to that. President Fox could have said it in a different way.

i'm just curious...what kind of jobs do they take?

Is Jesse just looking for something to do? How is the Rainbow Coalition doing these days?

Vincente Fox did not say anything that hasn't already been said.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by PoohsHoneyBee
i'm just curious...what kind of jobs do they take? [/QUOTE

It's quite true that many immigrants, esp. Mexicans take service jobs that most people would rather pass on. For example, most hotels that I stay in have Latino maids, and nearly all of the office buildings that I visit have Latino cleaning ladies (which is a problem that I'm at work late enough to see the cleaning staff).

I do have a problem with the President's comment, but I'm not sure that Jesse is the person that I want arguing the issue.

Marie

Down here, I often see Latino and Latina immigrants take low-wage, low-skill service positions, particularly in fast food, domestic work and janitorial sectors. These are jobs that most American citizens would pass on, even American citizens who don't really have marketable skills.

As an aside, I recall being startled when I first visited Atlanta in 1990 and saw AfAms doing mall janitorial work at Underground Atlanta. By that time in California, more than a few blacks didn't do that kind of work or work as domestics in private homes.

I know, right?! I'mma need for Jesse to not be acting like he's someone important.

I understand when Vincente speaks of the type of jobs that they take (fast food, construction, etc.) but I don't like how he stated that "even blacks wouldn't take these jobs. He didn't Americans, he said blacks - as if we are the measure of laziness in this country.

^^
Sadly, that's plausible. Bad stereotypes of us have made it overseas...remember all the furor in the late 1980s with Japanese officials making racial slurs, stereotyping, etc.?

Not just stereotypes but what we have a hand in ourselves. Our chapter president was in Switzerland on business last month and saw building-size (length) murals of A. Iverson (a Reebok ad, I think) and 50 cent, at their "menacing" best....

hey, it's marketing and making $, I understand how the game is played; but at some level we allow this to be done to ourselves. :(

Good point. Often times these images are the only ones available of Black folks in other countries. :(

Ahhhh...to be Black in Mexico
 

Re: Ahhhh...to be Black in Mexico
 

To be black in Mexico! :eek: Dag! I could say so much more, but I don't want to bring up old, heated threads on GC because this kind of attitude explains a lot.

What those of you in your haste to decry Jesse Jackson is the inference of the statement. He did not say poor whites, rednecks, Vietnamese Boat people, West Indians, Puero Ricans, or anyone else or the lower economic rung of American society. He chose black as the measuring stick for low wage, unskilled jobs. As if we are only a step up from non-english speaking, illiterate, desperate people who will work for virtual pennies. Is that how we see ourselves. If you see yourself reflected in that statement, you are part of the problem. Black folks work in construction, fast food, maid service, and the hotel industry in great numbers. It is just that they choose to be paid fair wages and are often unionized, whereas most Mexicans work under the table for cash or off the books.

I do, too, here in MN--especially small factory jobs and farms that pay way less than minimum wage and have no benefits.

Sad to say, but "our" reasoning is that welfare programs provide a better living than these jobs. (and they do.)

Also, it is the same with our Somali population who come here and willingly work the jobs that "we" don't want.

Not in Minnesota. And it is not about the population because American-born Blacks are still the largest community of color here. But it is because we will not take the jobs. I work in the social service arena and at one point supervised a welfare-to-work program. I saw it first hand, and it was very frustrating.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Marie

Quote:

Originally posted by PoohsHoneyBee i'm just curious...what kind of jobs do they take? [/QUOTE I do have a problem with the President's comment, but I'm not sure that Jesse is the person that I want arguing the issue. Marie

I am partial on the whole issue.....however, I agree...I do not want Jesse (or even Al Sharpton :rolleyes: ) arguing for our cause.....

That's still going on? What?!:eek:


With that said, his comment rubbed me the wrong way. I don't understand why he had to pick out ONLY us. He should have just made a general statement like "We do jobs other minorites won't do." instead of pointing out blacks only.

I guess it's a lightweight apology....
 

Fox 'regrets' remark about blacks
Mexican president invites Sharpton, Jackson to collaborate

(CNN) -- Mexican President Vicente Fox called two American civil rights leaders late Monday and told them he regretted any offense to African-Americans when he said Mexican immigrants in the United States take jobs "that not even blacks want to do."

Fox spoke separately by phone with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, according to a statement from the Mexican Foreign Ministry. The statement said Fox invited them to Mexico to "join forces" on working for immigration rights and civil rights for immigrants in the United States.

Fox told the men that he "regretted if he offended the African-American community" and said he has "great respect for the African-American community," according to the statement.

The ministry said Fox understands the African-American community has worked hard to fight against discrimination and that as a result of that fight the Mexican community in America has benefited greatly.

Sharpton said the phone call was a "step in the right direction," but he called on the Mexican president to issue a formal apology. "If in fact what he expressed to me on the phone was so, then he needs to demonstrate that those statements, one, do not reflect how he feels; and two, he needs to formally apologize," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americ...16/mexico.fox/

If not them, then who?? I haven't heard anyone else making attempts to set Senor Fox straight.

It is true that we need someone to step up to the plate, but sometimes if you have the wrong person in your corner they may hurt your cause more than help it. Perhaps the young brotha Obama will contribute his thoughts.

Marie

As usual, excellent points. But I wonder how long this reasoning can hold among some people, particularly because welfare programs are being cut (and have been "reformed") and time limits are the vogue now.

But that is my point. This is even with welfare reform. The time limit is 5 years and they do give extensions (we just finished our first 5 years of "reform" last year and most benefits were extended, because the systems still had kinks to work out.) So attitudes really haven't changed.

That was what was so frustrating.

^^
Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.

Somali's and other immigrant populations come from notthing. War, famine, one meal a day, inadequate housing, no running water, toilets, etc. They make more at Wend's in a month below minimum wage than they made in their homelands in a year. People, Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or whatever are not going to work for $3 an hour. Its not about being lazy (some is), but you can only live on that if you are living 10, 12, to a house like illegal immigrants do.

Where I live, all housing construction is done by illegals. A contractor pulls up to corners or parking lots where the illegals congregate and hire them out on a daily basis. They get paid in cash or off the books. You can't do that with a 30 yr old Black man with a ss#. No. 1, he won't work for less than minimum wage, and number 2, he has to pay taxes. So, in essence, illegal immigrant labor undercuts the hard working Black man or Black woman, who work or used to work in the unskilled labor industry. They are undercut by the pool of illegal labor that is willing to work for less than what is legal. Those thousands of jobs could go to Black men at the $15hr that they should be in a union state, but here you can pay a Mexican $50 for 10 hrs of hard labor in 90 degree heat.

It is not all about laziness. Its an economic decision on both sides. Lets not be quick to self-hate without delving deeper.

A related article
 

Mexican stamp fuels racial stereotypes:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8410111/

Re: A related article
 

I saw that on another board *smh* ironically, most folk said they weren't offended by it

They're discussing it here too:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...21#post1043421

I swear...some people just don't get it...

Update:Farrakhan agrees with Fox
 

Farrakhan: Mexican president was right

He says blacks don't want jobs that immigrants take

Monday, August 15, 2005; Posted: 11:36 a.m. EDT (15:36 GMT)

Although Fox was sharply criticized for his remarks by some black leaders, Farrakhan said Sunday that blacks do not want to go to farms and pick fruit because they already "picked enough cotton."

"Why are you so foolishly sensitive when somebody is telling you the truth?" he asked the crowd at Mercy Memorial Baptist Church.

He said blacks and Latinos should form an alliance to correct differences and animosity between the two communities.

Civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, condemned the remark. Some leaders called on Fox to apologize.

Read the rest here

^^^ Hmmmmm. I can't put my thoughts together on this one. I'm kind of speechless. I have to think about this and come back.:confused:

Farrakhan's take is interesting, but it doesn't quite fly with me. Yes, immigrants tend to do more menial labor type jobs, and all Americans strive to be blue and white collar workers. But the tone of Fox's comment is what is problematic. His words suggest that menial labor is solely the arena of Black folks in this nation; and that, in some way, there is something demeaning in the work so that it is only fit for Black folks and now Mexicans. If I were Mexican, I think his comments would have been offensive to me too.

I do agree, however, that there are bigger fish to fry and that much of this is distraction for the purposes of division.

Re: Update:Farrakhan agrees with Fox
 

Farrakhan also said, "as long as the Mexicans don't start rapping and playing basketball, everything is cool."

Re: Re: Update:Farrakhan agrees with Fox
 

I think basketball is safe from Mexicans:

A) You can't kick a basketball
B) You must use your hands
C) It's just not soccer
D) I'm just as tall as most of my husband's family (he's Mexican) and I'm 5'2''.

Re: Mexican leader criticized for comment on blacks
 

My thoughts exactly. That's what he should have said. Not "even blacks" won't take. We are not the only ones that turn away from those jobs. It's like he was underhandedly calling us the scum of the earth!:rolleyes:

and what the heck is this??? http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Co...rge.hlarge.jpg

I am very offended by this.

But this just goes to show how he really feels about us. A friend of mine told me once that when hispanics go thru immigration, they are told to stay away from us. I really did not believe it, but comments like this makes one wonder.

Please tell me those stamps were made pre-1950s. :(

The character is from the 40's, but these stamps were issued a few months ago and sold out quickly. It apparently was just a limited issue stamp, so you can't get them anymore. You can still get the t-shirt and comic book though.