Overrun

[vegeta rocker]

I was watching the news the other day and they were doing a followup on New Orleans. The mayor came on and said that they were rebuilding the city as best they could and that he could only hope that they weren't overrun by mexicans.

What!

I thought maybe i heard wrong, but i didn't; he seriously said that. He says that all the mexicans are taking all the jobs and rebuilding everything. (I'm hispanic)

First of all, half the black people aren't going back because they can't afford to rebuild not because mexicans are taking over.

I think he should be more grateful, besides half the formans are black anyway and they don't have a problem with it.

What are your opinions?

Here for info: [URL=http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=fa92e2c88a63985418da75582292b5c7]Ignorance and Racism[/URL]

[Guest kuroinuyoukai]

That is so ******* wrong.

I hate racists. They all need to be taken somewhere and beaten. Or something. :animeangr

I am part Indian and sometimes people look at me different when I tell them. I look like just a normal white girl.

A person in his position should not say things like that even if he thinks it.

We have a lot of Katrina victims down here in Memphis, but we don't dare say that the New Orleans people are taking over. The mayor needs to be reprimanded and he needs to apologize. If not the bum needs to be fired. :animeangr

[Morpheus]

Here is what the mayor said in a nutshell:

[I]"Help, oir city has been destroyed! I sure hope the city isn't [B]overun with people that will rebuild it cheaply.[/B] Who knows what will happen after that?"[/I]

That is just utter brilliance.

[Sinistra]

[FONT=Palatino Linotype]I think that the media helps to influence people like that and add fuel to the fire. This kind of reminds me of something Carlos Mencia said on his show. Associated Press had published two pictures that showed people in the midst of the flooding before (or) after Hurricane Katrina.

One picture showed two caucasian people, and underneath, a brief explanation that Mencia made a point of. "Two people are [B]gathering[/B] food from a nearby grocery store..."

And the second one had two african-americans. "Two blacks are shown [B]looting[/B] goods from a local convenience store..."

(Looting's illegal, right?) Mencia made the point that the AP will mention things differently depending on race. He did it to be funny, but really, he's making a major point. The media can be really racist just to get attention, they'll sink as low as they need to. And that's really quite pathetic.

Stupid people like the Mayor of New Orleans, and (in my opinion, don't kill me for it) President Bush should not be in the positions that they are in now. They recieve no sympathy, and myself being a minority (Native American), dislike the fact that they are so...ignorant.

So, it's not just Hispanics, but all minorities.

Racism...examples?

Well, if you're hispanic, then you can be in three places and be three different nationalities. New York, you're Puerto Rican, Southwest, you're Mexican, in Florida, you're Cuban.

If you're Native American, you like running around in deer skin moccasins killing buffalo with spears and making lots of money in casinos, etc.

You get my point. It just shows that a lot of people are just...stupid and unwilling to open their minds.[/FONT]

[Retribution]

[size=1]I remember seeing some guy from New Orleans talking about how he didn't want the Mexicans to take all the Black's jobs and whatnot. I just hung my head in shame. They sound exactly like those Whites who didn't want to give civil rights to Blacks "We don't want no n***** here, go back to where you came from!"

It's saddening, that my people would forget a lesson so dearly learned so quickly.[/size]

[Charles]

[quote name='Retribution][size=1']It's saddening, that my people would forget a lesson so dearly learned so quickly.[/size][/quote]

Haha, "my people."

But seriously, I can understand why this is a problem. It's easy for business owners to hire illegal Mexican workers for extremely low wages (below minimum wage even) with no benefits instead of hiring Americans for legal wages. What's so hard to understand about this guys? If I was living there I would be concerned about this too.

[Semjaza]

This is also an issue because for awhile the federal government had undone rules to require minimum wages and other such "basic" things in that area. A lot of it geared to get outside contractors money instead of the ones that were localized in the area and needed the money the most. It pretty much right out calls in illegal immigrants. I'm pretty sure they've undone that oversight by now, but I'm not positive that they have.

If there was some other country right below them they would have said that group instead. There are many issues with illegal immigrants doing labor down there for next to nothing, obviously replacing citizens here they'd have to record and pay normal wages to. It's not good for anyone except some of the companies that hire them (Walmart itself has been getting into **** over similar situations with illegal immigrants, so it goes everywhere).

It's a very legitimate concern for a city that has to be rebuilt that heavily in the south. The mayor's comment doesn't hold any real racist connotations unless you make it so yourself. Just because you read it as "I don't want any dirty Mexicans touching my land!!!" doesn't mean it was voiced as such and, in his case, I really don't think it was whatsoever.

I can't speak for some random person people supposedly saw on television, however, but it's not like the guy is any power over the city.

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

It is saddening to hear such a view expressed by someone who's mandated to look after the welfare of the city and it's people, even if it seems most of them won't be returning because they can't afford to rebuild. Though that's the part I don't get, wouldn?t most, if not all of those houses destroyed by Katrina be insured ? And thus the whole cost of rebuilding is covered, and even if it isn?t I thought there was some kind of fund set up to help the victims of Katrina. All that aside, it?s the sentiment of the statement that?s saddening, that even after all the civil rights movement?s work it seems there?s always going to be attitude like that.[/SIZE]

[visualkei]

Since you haven't provided a some reliable source to show exactly what the mayor said, it's kind of difficult to side with you right away..

I guess I'm in disbelief that some one in that position would say something so.... mean about a racial group. I'm hoping that you might have heard wrong or misunderstood what he said. =/ If the mayor really did say something along those lines he really needs to check himself. Shouldn't people be somewhat grateful that there are people rebuilding the city? I think Vegeta Rocker makes a good point that it's not simply because mexicans are moving in, but that the original residents who are mostly black aren't moving back.

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]I'm wondering why the last two posts expressing shock over what the mayor said are even there, when Tony's enlightening and intelligent post is just above them.[/size]

[Retribution]

[size=1][quote name='New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin']How do I ensure that New Orleans is not overrun by Mexican workers?[/quote]
So we're all going to overlook this, giving Major Nagin the benefit of the doubt, and sweeping this under the rug? That's the spirit. Of course he didn't mean anything mean, or God forbid, [I]politically incorrect[/I].

He was talking to a group of African American businessmen - he's black himself. I think that his comment stands alone. He never mentioned [I]illegal[/I] Mexican workers. He just didn't want any Mexicans overrunning New Orleans. Can't you hear it? Can't you see the undercurrent of race just brewing the situation along? Really - someone post here, telling me that the quote above was made completely independent of race-allegiance.

I understand what you're saying, Tony. It makes perfect sense. However, it's the fact that the major never really specified that he didn't want any illegal Mexican workers coming - he just blanketed all Mexicans with the statement that they were overrunning his city.[/size]

[Baron Samedi]

[QUOTE=Retribution][size=1]
So we're all going to overlook this, giving Major Nagin the benefit of the doubt, and sweeping this under the rug? That's the spirit. Of course he didn't mean anything mean, or God forbid, [I]politically incorrect[/I].

He was talking to a group of African American businessmen - he's black himself. I think that his comment stands alone. He never mentioned [I]illegal[/I] Mexican workers. He just didn't want any Mexicans overrunning New Orleans. Can't you hear it? Can't you see the undercurrent of race just brewing the situation along? Really - someone post here, telling me that the quote above was made completely independent of race-allegiance.

I understand what you're saying, Tony. It makes perfect sense. However, it's the fact that the major never really specified that he didn't want any illegal Mexican workers coming - he just blanketed all Mexicans with the statement that they were overrunning his city.[/size][/QUOTE]
[size=1]The thing is, Mexican workers [[i]sans[/i] illegal] aren't the problem. It's not like they'd be capable of overrunning the city, because there wouldn't be an unexpectedly high number of them, and they'd have to work for at least minimum wage anyway, [b]unlike[/b] the Mexicans who do have the capapcity to overrun the city - the illegal ones. He deserves the benefit of the doubt, because as soon as you consider the possibility of it being non-racist in context, it is [i]plainly[/i] obvious that it isn't racist.[/size]

[Charles]

[quote name='Baron Samedi][size=1']I'm wondering why the last two posts expressing shock over what the mayor said are even there, when Tony's enlightening and intelligent post is just above them.[/size][/quote]

Gee, thanks for ignoring mine Baron!

Anyway, sometimes I just want to give people here a big box of tissues. Especially when the economy of people within our own country is suffering because of crooked hiring policies. It's as if some of you are saying "Who cares if the jobs in New Orleans are being stolen, the mayor is so insensitive towards Mexicans!" And, for the record, being hispanic doesn't quality you as closely tied to the Mexican heritage. That's not to say that you aren't, but merely saying that you're "hispanic" doesn't cut it.

[Baron Samedi]

[quote name='Charles']Gee, thanks for ignoring mine Baron![/quote][size=1]Oh, you made a serious post??

Kidding. If it makes you feel better, I considered editing my post when I read back up. But you and Tony [b]did[/b] both make good points, which some people seem to be ignoring in favour of latching onto "omG rAcIst FiRE HIm!!1 i Em Sh0CkEd!!!11" attitudes.[/size]

[vegeta rocker]

I think it qualifies me just fine to be close to mexican. My mother is a full blood mexican and my dad is half mexican and half spanish.

This is isn't about just mexicans; if you read the article i linked to you would see they are categorizing all latins into the mexican area.

Thats like putting chinese and japanese people as one.

[Semjaza]

A lot of that is because of how the article is written to begin with. It gives absolutely no idea when the mayor said that or what he used it as a response for. If there was some group of mixed up hispanic people in front of him and he just blurted this out, I'd not be questioning this and I'd agree with you.

However, since this article doesn't really explain it or give a date or anything of reference, it's hard to even say anything like that. If he said this at any other time, I would feel as though he was just voicing a concern over illegal immigrant workers working for nothing and taking jobs that locals would need to survive, many of which probably would be from Mexico because it's the closest country by far. I don't think he'd be referring to anyone of Hispanic descent.

The timing of that is insanely important and while I agree with the general idea of the article and how sad it is, I think the mayor quote, in particular, is being somewhat skewed to help the agenda it holds. New Orleans is obviously historically racist as can be (hell, look at those policemen who wouldn't allow blacks into their suburbs during the flooding) and the majority of this article certainly supports that. I feel like you would have been better off quoting most of that by comparison.

So who knows. Without a proper timeframe and idea of what the mayor meant, I guess everyone kind of just has to be like "what exactly does that mean?"... and based on your own experiences, you're just going to take it one way or the other. Maybe there's some history of this guy being racist, but I have no idea and you'd think the article would mention it.

[vegeta rocker]

i agree NPC; you can take the quote many ways.

As for a date and such, i saw it on the news a few nights ago. I can't be sure if thats exactly when he said it obviously though.

I saw and heard the words leave his mouth in a bitter disregard for civility.

[visualkei]

I agree with you two above that the quote can be taken in many ways. I haven't watched TV or kept up with the media in months (yeah, i KNOW). So after Baron Samedi's peeved comment I read a few news articles about this.

It's hard to ignore when some one points out a race. =/. My comments earlier were based on my feelings that there was no need for the mayor to specifically point out a race, and generalize it on other latinos, too. My concern is about how affront the mayor's remark can be perceived by Mexican Americans. Like Retribution, I thought he should've specifically said "illegal workers," instead. To me, the mayor's comment seemed like the problem was with "the Mexicans" when it's a problem stemmed from our own lack of consistency in government.

Generic NPC #3 I don't disagree with you about how big businesses are the ones benefitting from this cheap labor, you've made a lot of obvious points that didn't occur to me at first. I think that if there's a complaint, it should be geared towards how contracting companies are gaining from this and how our government doesn't require companies to investigate workers with suspicious documentation. Aren't we Americans keeping out illegal immigrants AND practically inviting them in? :animesigh

[Baron Samedi]

[quote name='visualkei']Like Retribution, I thought he should've specifically said "illegal workers," instead. To me, the mayor's comment seemed like the problem was with "the Mexicans" when it's a problem stemmed from our own lack of consistency in government. [/quote][size=1]He was addressing a roomful of New Orleans businessmen. Is it not entirely possible that they could all have known exactly what he meant, from the context of his speech before that point?[/size]