So, did Florida make everyone racist? This isn’t rhetorical, I genuinely want to know. We already knew that a large chunk of republicans (albeit not all) were racist, but after Florida passed their new anti-illegal immigration laws, apparently so is everyone else. Am I the only one who sees this?
Scroll through TikTok or read forums online about the effects of Florida’s law. If it’s not blatantly clear how upsettingly racist everyone on the left is, then you are ignoring a billboard-sized sign erected in front of you. Most people on the left are saying things that should have gotten them cancelled, yet it seems that the masses are ignoring this because they are all technically on the same side.
I have seen post after post depicting the before and after of this bill. The ‘before’ usually depicts immigrants as working really hard and fast to accomplish menial jobs that most of us take for granted. The ‘after’ usually depicts citizens working at a small fraction of the speed and often throwing in the towel after they realize how hard the work actually is. This is played off as though we need to bring back the immigrants because they are harder workers than us. But… well… excuse the fuck out of me!?
The immigrants didn’t work so hard and for so long because they are genetically superior or because they had a greater work ethic. It’s because they didn’t have a choice. They came into this country in hopes of creating a better life for themselves and because of how broken our system is, they couldn’t stay here legally. This put them in a position of taking on the jobs that worked them like cattle and paid them dirt. But they had to do this in order to survive.
This is something anyone could do if put in the same position, but we have the luxury of not living under the constant threat of deportation; losing every ounce of hope we have to live a better life. They work harder and cheaper because they have to, not because they want to.
Now that Florida has shown the rest of the country that the average American would struggle to perform the same job, the solution isn’t to bring the immigrants back and let them deal with it. We should be striving to bring them back, give them better pay and lower the stringent standards they have to meet to keep their jobs.
Americans aren’t just lazy. We can’t be threatened with deportation and the loss of our hope, so we have passed laws to allow us to experience certain comforts that these immigrants simply can’t. Our takeaway from this shouldn’t be the racist view that the Immigrants are better at the job, it should be the astonishment at the garbage pay and insane standards they have to meet just to get by.
Many people have even gone so far as to empathize with the employers. People are legitimately concerned that these businesses are losing money and may be forced to go bankrupt because they can’t produce as much revenue and underpay their employees. Since when did this become a concern? Let these grubby, disgusting, elitist and racist businesses go under. These are practices that would have been stopped in the beginning if they had only employed American citizens.
Our response should be to pass laws making it easier for them to stay as well as making it illegal for these employers to treat their immigrant employees like cattle. Instead, everyone’s takeaway is disturbingly wrong. A large percentage of people just want things to go back to the way they were. But the way things were was unethical.
I will acknowledge that it’s not everyone. I’m not the sole person who has noticed this terrifying mentality. But if we really want to produce change, we have to stop reacting with our gut. It’s fine to laugh at Florida for experiencing the consequences of their actions. But returning to the status quo isn’t the goal. Saying the immigrants worked better because of their genetics is wrong. We can be a hell of a lot better than this.
We have to do is recognize that the Americans who are working these jobs now, are doing so in the way that the jobs SHOULD be worked. We are making fun of them because they are working at a reasonable and steady pace and getting paid a proper wage. Just think about that.
The workflow should have always been exactly what it is right now. We can’t lose sight of this. Immigrants have always been treated inhumanely and we now have the opportunity to do something about it.
Galvanic Ink 