Blog #7: Sources

Sources ...

            I start work at 6:30 a.m. and have about 15 minutes to make the coffee and fill all the sugar before the Prides Corner nursery workers come in on their way to work. I don’t know why I bother to put the covers on the sugar containers because they just take them off anyways so that it pours out faster. I open a fresh jar of jalapeños and slice the buffalo cheese; even at 7 a.m. Mexicans love their spicy food. 6:45 on the dot and the first van load comes in for their coffee, donuts, and “bacon, huevo, y queso” sandwiches. The workers who speak English stay here year-round, so I know some of them pretty well. Every morning Juan buys a coffee and two cinnamon rolls, he tells me he likes to save one for his 10:00 break. At 2:15 I make sure to stock the beer coolers with Corona and Negro Modelo before I leave; the workers will be going home soon as well and always enjoy a couple of “cerveza’s” after working in the greenhouses all day. I then go to the farm for the afternoon milking. As I set up the parlor, Miguel herds the cows up for me from the barn, singing to them the whole time. He loves to sing. I felt like I knew the migrant workers who I interact with pretty well, until I watched the movie “Farmingville” and learned about the life of migrant workers in class.

            The movie addressed the issue of migrant workers living in a quiet Long Island town. We saw both sides of the conflict; those who wanted the workers deported, and those who supported the workers being there. Throughout the movie, I thought the people who pushed for deportation were naïve of the situation. They say they pay higher taxes so they can live in that neighborhood. If there were no migrant workers available to accept the low wage jobs, how would those people feel about paying higher prices for everything else in life as well? The flowers they plant in their gardens would cost more, restaurants would have to raise their prices, milk and other agricultural products would experience high inflation. The problem with this society is that they never see the source in anything, in this case the source of consumer goods.

            Also, Americans do not open their eyes enough to see their own country is the underlying source for the economic problems in Mexico, and therefore the reason for the migrant workers. In the early 1990’s the U.S. signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, and so began another plan to gain control over Mexico. Gilbert Gonzalez, in a chapter from A Century of Chicano History, summarized the outcome of the U.S. plan for power. “Bit by bit, this tighter and tighter network of domination has succeeded in disarticulating the Mexican economy, destroying its domestic industry as well as local agricultural production, creating demographic dislocation, and in the process, turning an increasing portion of its population into a nomadic mass of migrant workers who eventually emerged as the Chicano national minority,” (59). Not only will the U.S. refuse to admit that they are the foundation to Mexico’s poor economy, but they won’t even accept the people who try to better their lives by working.

Residents in Farmingville also did not see the source in the workers themselves. These people went through great extremes just to come to this country to work the jobs that no one else is willing or want to do. As the Mexicans used their free time to clean up the local soccer field, they hoped to improve their image by being involved in the community while showing off their talents in “futbol”. However, the residents were oblivious to the reason for the Mexicans community service.

While watching the movie, I noticed the community never made an attempt to get to know the migrant workers. The Mexicans were never given a chance to say their reason for coming to the U.S. or how long they plan to stay. I felt the community was wrong to want to send the migrants back without even knowing their source for coming. As I was thinking this however, I realized I was being somewhat hypocritical of myself. I am grateful for the work of the migrants in my community, however I was also naïve thinking I knew them well. I may know their personalities, but I’ve never asked about their families at home, or their plans for the future. When I return home I intend on finding out this information, because to truly know someone, you must know their source and reasoning for their actions and decisions. 

-Chelsea Williams-