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NEWS & LETTERS, August-September 2006Common fight for immigrants, Blacksby Georgiana Williams Los Angeles-I have lived in South Central for 40 years. In my neighborhood there are a lot of Spanish-speaking people. In South Central I am known as Grandma, not just to African Americans, but to everyone. And everyone was welcome in my home. I get very emotional when I think about what is happening to the Spanish-speaking people, because I grew up in the South on a plantation. The same way people live in Mexico, that is how we were treated in Mississippi. I know what it is like to crawl on my knees all day long and pick 100 pounds of cotton and get 50 cents. I know what it's like to crawl on my knees all day and pick up potatoes and peanuts and pull tomatoes, and bell peppers, and cucumbers, and watermelons, and cantaloupes and get $3 a day. I know what it is like when they lock the school and tell your parents that you can't go to school till all the work on the farm is done. SLAVE SHIPS I used to hear my grandmamma talk about the slave ships. I remember how she talked about the plantation owner making them eat with the pigs. He would feed the pigs in a trough and feed us the same way, putting our food in the trough. They had to fight the hogs to eat. By the help of God, I did graduate from high school. I went to nursing school. I did well and I left Mississippi. I moved to California so I could work and help my family of 13. So if these people want to work in the fields, work in the laundry, keep your babies, clean your house, or work in a restaurant, if they don't have a green card or visa, leave them alone and let them make an honest dollar. People shouldn't have to suffer in 2006 the way we did in the 1950s and 1960s. Treat them as human beings. Let them make a life for themselves and make a living. As a nurse, for the past 10 years I have been in the homes of Spanish-speaking families, taking care of Spanish-speaking kids. We are not divided. That is the media and the capitalist community that are trying to pit African Americans and Spanish-speaking people against one another. In South Central we are not divided. I don't even like to use the word "immigrant." It reminds me of that word they used to call us in the South. People should be treated kind and with humanity. All this bickering about green cards and visas, they can just go to hell with it. It is 2006, it's time for a change. They are not taking jobs from anyone. When I moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s, you could get a Black gardener. You could find a Black man to patch your roof. You don't see that now. Our men have gotten themselves educated and have moved up. All that stuff about taking away jobs is a bunch of crap. I say to all the poor people: It is time to unite and show this capitalist society that we are one. Instead of going way south to spend your money, spend your money in your own neighborhood. Who said stand by your man? I say stand by your community. Stand by the poor. CONDEMNED TO DEATH I have one patient, a little girl, who has a gastrostomy tube. Medicare no longer pays for it. How am I supposed to feed that little girl? These are things that are going on in our community. Do you think this is going on in Beverly Hills? No, because the mom and dad there can buy the gastrostomy tube. It's more than just going out there and taking jobs. There are a lot of things that need to be changed. On May Day I was out there with the immigrant marchers, me and my walking cane and my chair. I say, keep on protesting. Keep on letting your voice be heard. I don't care what kind of flag you raise, just raise it. |
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