El Boro de Greens

Tonight I'm watching Immigration Nation on CNN. The story talks about how small towns in Georgia which just a few short years ago were void of immigrants are teeming with day laborers, and immigrant refugees from Mexico.

To me this sounded alot like Greensboro, or for that matter most any town around the Piedmont. The South is perhaps now the "gold rush" of immigrants. Were a little bit dirty, and little bit underhanded, and our cities were built on slavery and black immigrants. But this time it's different; instead of us gringos bringing in cheap labor to make our white selves rich, we're simply "allowing" Mexican immigrants to cross the border and perform labor and jobs we don't want to do. Or atleast that's the argument by some anti-immigration citizens.

Perhaps it's because the south has a heart, and unlike other states, our southern hospitality and humanity lends itself to helping our friends from the south in obtaining a better life for themselves. Atleast that's what I hope it is.

In the show, they follow a gentleman adamantly against immigration. His fears are that America will be a nation of two languages, that immigrants use his tax dollars to deprive his own children of education, and that immigrants put a undue stress upon the nations health-care system.

It's the fear part that gets me. It's the hate that I see in peoples eyes when they talk about illegal immigrants. I've seen it. It's racism. Honestly who cares if we all end up speaking Spanish, or are already horrible education system must fund "Spanish only" speaking programs. Is health-care really all that good in this country? The truth comes down to fear. The fear that your going to have to change. The fear you might have to learn something, adapt to people speaking different. It's not unlike the stereotypical retired old people, more concerned with how right they are, then what's right to do.