First Published 9-25-10
Comedian Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” testified before our congress in reference to granting amnesty and citizenship to millions of illegal aliens in our country and working our jobs. This little Hollywood twerp apparently worked with illegals on a farm for one day and came to the conclusion that we, as Americans, did not want to work on farms, as he found the labor too difficult for himself.
In the early 1980s this country was in a depression. I live on the West Coast. I travelled all the way across the country looking for work. My dad was working in Indiana, so I had a place to stay. After a month of searching and finding nothing in the way of employment, my dad, who was a master mechanic and had always been able to find a job anywhere, suggested that we all go to Florida, where he was sure we could all find work.
When we first arrived at Port St. Lucy, Florida my dad purchased a local newspaper and found an ad for a mechanic maintaining and repairing equipment on a large, corporate farm. He applied for the job and was very confident that he would land it, as he had 10 years experience as a road mechanic for Caterpillar. That, coupled with his 30 years of overall experience as a mechanic and his impeccable references, should have made it a sure thing. He was denied the job because he could not speak Spanish. After a couple of weeks of us looking for work, and my dad being denied jobs because he could not speak Spanish, we were running out of money and getting desperate.
I walked a few miles to an employment office. When I walked through the door, there was a sign that said, “Cane Workers Wanted – $5.00 per hour.” I went to the receptionist, pointed at the sign and stated, “I want three of those jobs, one for myself and two for my brothers.” The receptionist replied, “Are you a Cuban or Haitian refugee?” I said, “No.” She then stated, “Those jobs are reserved for Cuban and Haitian refuges.” I was enraged. I went back to the KOA Park where we were staying and reported what had occurred to my dad. He said that we were all going to have to take any work we could find and save enough money to get the hell out of Florida.
We finally found work picking oranges and were more than glad to take it. We picked oranges for a month, saved our money, and each sold a gun. We then took the combined moneys and got the hell out of Florida. We stayed at our family farm in West Virginia for about a month. Twice I hitchhiked 23 miles into the nearest town and back trying to find work. (Note: I was hitchhiking out of a hollow so it was a lot more walking than riding.) I could find no work. I sold my last gun for enough money to get back to the west coast; arriving at my family home in the middle of November in four feet of snow, flat broke.
I say to Stephen Colbert, “The reason you could not handle working in the fields for a day is because it’s hard to pick produce with a silver spoon hanging out of your mouth, as it makes your eyes cross and you spend all day trying to decide which tomato to pick.”
From the time I started working, especially during the hard times, I have worked on many farms and ranches picking produce, bucking hay, and processing potatoes from the field. I live in a farming community and we are overrun with illegals. I have no doubt that if they were not here my two sons and I, one of which has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics, could be at least making a little money on the fall harvest. This place has become like Florida was back in the 80s; you cannot get a job working on the farms if you do not speak Spanish, as you slow down production through lack of communication.
The farming, service, transport, and construction industries have become dominated from the second tier down by illegals, who do not speak our language. There is nothing left for unemployed Americans who have English as their only language. I think I would experience pure joy in stuffing Stephen Colbert down his coat rack.
I believe there is only one way this situation is going to change. We have to take our country back. And how do we do that? Take back the $28 trillion stolen by the international corporate mafia (end the federal reserve), seal our borders and deport every foreign national, end CAFTA, NAFTA, GATT, and all other policies paying business to outsource our jobs, reestablish our industrial base, and offer some relief to those in dire need until the aforementioned can be accomplished.
Stephen Colbert, this is our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren we are talking about here. It is not a joke.