May 01, 2006
My "Day Without Immigrants"
Today is May Day and there is a movement in the US to prove the worth of immigrants by holding a 'Day Without Immigrants'. This features a call to immigrants, both legal and illegal, to stay home from work and not do any shopping today. Here is how it has gone for me, so far:
I was born far away (in 'Russia proper' as I described to someone this weekend) and brought to America as a kid. This morning, I woke up in my apartment in New York. I said hello to my immigrant doorman (Dominican), bought coffee from the immigrant (Middle Eastern, likely Egyptian) who has a coffee cart on my corner, and got into a cab to work (I was late, ok) driven by an immigrant (Nigerian). Once there, the immigrant (Central American, likely Dominican) security lady checked my id before letting me onto the elevator.
So far, bang up job keeping immigrants at home today. From the AFP story about the protests:
Though the economic impact of the "Day Without Immigrants" is hard to predict, some analysts expect a major social impact akin to the dawning of the US civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Here's my prediction: negligible economic impact and that only because certain companies like Goya and Tyson's closed their plants in some twisted show of solidarity.
Social impact? Any immigrant who is in America because they are seeking a better life for themselves and their families will not be taking today off to participate in some dumb protest with the leftist fringes of society. I think the bigger social impact might be how little impact this protest will ultimately have. What if they held a "Day Without Immigrants" and no one noticed?
Update: Michelle Malkin reports the country is still standing and Ace of Spades has a name-change suggestion for illegal immigrants that don't make them sound quite as, well, law-breaking.
Posted by Karol at May 1, 2006 09:42 AM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags: Day+Without+Immigrants Immigration May+Day Bush Immigration+Reform
"Central American, likely Dominican"
If you're talking about the Dominican Republic (or the little island nation of Dominica), you mean Caribbean.
Anyhow, I have a feeling that they're lucky it didn't succeed -- this would have ended up like the transit strike, with zero sympathy for the union.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg at May 1, 2006 01:11 PMI meant to write "Central American, maybe Dominican". My bad.
Posted by: Karol at May 1, 2006 01:20 PMLucky,lucky you... you bought in .... guess you were the right 'color'
Posted by: Francie at May 1, 2006 06:59 PMYeah, hardly any black or brown people get in to the US.
Posted by: Karol at May 1, 2006 07:17 PMWe need to begin our OWN boycott.
Boycott Cinco de Mayo!!
Boycott any business commemorating Cinco de Mayo until July 4th!
Shun the usage of Cinco de Mayo (in return for the insult of the National Anthem in Spanish!!).
Create a new Fifth of May celebration to celebrate clean streets, a law-abiding population, and the beauty of the English language!!
Posted by: Ariztophanes at May 1, 2006 11:37 PMEssentially, everyone is an immigrant to the US. Yes, even you hillbilly, NRA, confederate flag toting, chevy truck trivers where once immigrants. If your world went farther than your television and your home county you'd realize that white america is a thing of the past. You've got a couple of rich white people at the head of some major companies in the cities, the rest is all multicultural laborers. The rest of the white people retreated to the suburbs. Take your confederate flag to west chicago and see what the lack of integration does to you.
Posted by: Reemus at May 7, 2006 07:16 AMReemus, how do you not walk into walls?
1. I'm an immigrant.
2. I don't watch television.
3. Go look at some demographics for the US for your 'a couple of rich white people at the head of some major companies in the cities, the rest is all multicultural laborers'.
4. I grew up in one of the most integrated neighborhoods in the country. West Chicago can suck it.
