Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2006 > April > 27
Thursday, April 27, 2006
U.S. citizen can’t seem to get hired for day labor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He stood out from the rest of the men.
I spotted him at the Dunkin Donuts on Jimmy Carter Boulevard, in the parking lot where laborers congregate to find work.
Usually, they’re Hispanic males. One assumes that at least a few are in the country illegally.
Not George Brown.
He’s American via Mobile. He has a driver’s license and a Social Security card. He spent six years in the Army. Only one thing separates Brown from the rest of the laborers, and that’s skin color.
He’s black.
“I saw everybody standing out here looking for work, so I said, ‘Why not?’ the 39-year-old told me. “You got to do what you got to do to make it.”
Brown was drinking coffee and reading the newspaper when I introduced myself. He said he recognized me from the photo that appears with my column. I asked him if he wanted another cup. He declined.
Then, occasionally through tears, he told me his story as we sat in a booth. Nearly two decades ago, he moved to Atlanta to study computer technology. He was doing well, too, maintaining a 2.9 GPA while carrying a full course load and working full-time. The last semester he was in school, he experienced four deaths — his stepmother, an aunt, uncle and cousin. Traumatic losses.
Brown dropped out of school. He bounced from job to job. In some cases, he was laid off. In others, he just up and quit. Now, with nothing permanent, mornings are spent outside the doughnut shop, alongsideHispanic laborers, looking for work.
The kind of work that, according to Mexican President Vicente Fox, black Americans don’t want to do.
Remember his statement?
“There’s no doubt that the Mexican men and women — full of dignity, willpower and a capacity for work — are doing the work that not even blacks want to do in the United States,”he said.
Of course, that’s overly simplistic.
Maybe blacks refuse to do certain jobs at wages an illegal immigrant from Mexico might. Or they just can’t get hired.
Take Brown’s situation.
Physically, he’s bigger than many of the laborers who compete for work. And obviously, there’s no language issue. You’d think those would be selling points. “I get overlooked,” he told me. “All the time. I’m not upset with the amigos. They’re nice guys. But I work just as hard,if not harder, than they do. Yeah, it hurts me because I’m a legalized citizen.”
Brown may not be bitter at the laborers or potential employers, but the antics of some perturb him. He’s been accused of being a Homeland Security agent. After all, why else would an American citizen be job-hunting on the streets?
Brown arrives at the doughnut shop early in the morning. Every day. You can’t miss him. He’ll be the black guy who speaks fluent English.
And he would like a break.
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
