Took the family to South Carolina a couple of weeks back. Nice little spot. Had a good time. Kids could ride their bikes around the complex. Swim. Tennis. Go where they want. I got up before 6 one morning to play golf. Saw a little girl walking from the parking lot as I carried my clubs to my car. She was about 9 or 10. There was an older girl behind her. She was a bit more severe than the young one. No smile what-so-ever. I remember thinking: "Cool. Another family on vacation with kids. They must have just arrived. Moving in. Getting settled. Look Hispanic. I'm glad. This place can use a little flavor. They've even got a girl Snack's age. They can play together. That will be nice."Then ... the girls got closer. I realized they were pulling vacuum cleaners and carrying buckets. Damn. Shiiiit. Nah. These kids aint on no vacation. These kids are here to make beds. Clean toilets. Remove trash. Wash sheets and get the place ready for the next family. The 'girl' in back turned out not to be a girl at all. She was the mother. About 25 years old tops with a 10 year old daughter. I said good morning as we walked past each other, but they avoided eye contact. The little girl looked like she thought about forming a smile in response until her mother said something harsh in Spanish. Her eyes darted back to the ground.
I figured her mother had gone through hell to get her from Guatemala or Honduras or El Salvador or some other failed Central American neo-colony ... all the way to Hilton Head South Carolina. Probably involved Coyotes, river crossings, border guards, bribes, rapes and the constant fear of deportation.
This woman was stressed, tired and worried about INS. She didn't have time to pamper the feelings of a 10 year old kid who would rather sleep like other little girls on a Saturday morning than help her mother clean condos.
There but for the grace of God ... Hustle Hard.
5 comments:
Interestingly enough DV seeing that you believe in heirarchy (or was that Thor? I get you guys mixed up) I find it hard not to to assume that you are taking on that same role that liberal whites take on racial issues. you villinize the males of that group assume she's been raped exploited by crooked coyotes etc. Thereby making you the Black savior of the Latin people The perfect founder for the NAALP. I think you'd control the perimeters of the arguments and make sure they maintain a social cultural and financial position (like Now) below that of the so called Moors of America.
Tha sun ablaze as Marias foot
Touches the surface of sand
On Northern Land
As human contraband
Some Rico from Jalisco
Passed her name in a bar
She's stuffed ten to a truckbed
She clutches her cross
Here come tha exhaust
And it rips through her lungs
Shes off fast to tha pasture
Like cattle shell cross
Degree 106
Sweat and vomit are thrown
As she prays and suffocates
Upon her memories of home
Of Yankee guns for blood
debts on the loans
Of smoldering fields, rape, rubble and bones
Of graves hidden trapped up in visions of war
Of nothing, no one, nobody, no more
These are her mountains and skies and she radiates
And through history's rivers of blood she regenerates
And like tha sun disappears only to reappear
She's eternally here
Her time is near
Never conquered but here
To tear away at the mask
And now she got a quota
The needle and thread crucifixion
Sold and shipped across the new line
of Mason Dixon
Rippin through denim
Tha point an inch from her vein
Tha foreman approaches
steps now pound in her brain
His presence it terrifies
And eclipses her days
No minutes to rest
No moments to pray
And with a whisper
He whips her
Her soul changed to his will
"My job is to kill if you forget to take your pill"
Her arm jerks
Tha sisters gather round her and scream
As If in a dream
Eyes on the crimson stream
Numb as her wrists spit shots of blood to tha floor
I am nothing, no one, nobody, no more
These are her mountains and skies and she radiates
And through history's rivers of blood
she regenerates
And like tha sun disappears only to reappear
Maria she's eternally here
Her time is near
Never conquered but here
It's easy to get caught up in self. Some may take her not smiling as a personal affront not taking into account what you just described above. Thanks for reminding me to stay sympathetic.
ko,
not sure that you are fully understanding our hosts' comments regarding his encounter with the young mother and daughter.
i do not believe he is in any way implying that he is "captain save a latina/hispanic"...
i read the post to offer a very real and brutally face-on view of how many people live in this country. we all often can forget that there are some lees fortunate than ourselves as it relates to the financial ability to vacation, shop and eat well...some folk have to "hustle hard" just to make their ends wave from across the room, let alone meet.
all love.
tgn
Sista Nurse!
You are absolutely right.
I din't quite understand Ko's point / innuendo.
No attempt to play the role of the liberal goody toe shoe ... "oh boo hoo hoo ... unfortunate people who have to work ... how sad ... look at me while I do something for them that makes me look good ..."
Nah.
I was sharing my moment of realization that it was a mother and daughter from Guatemala, wandering across borders and chasing menial labor jobs today. It could very well be a mother and daughter from Stone Mountain tomorrow.
The social net that once existed in this country no longer exists.
The government can't save everybody.
At least these people know how to work.
Are not too sick too work.
(Not yet. They will be if they are able to stay in this country for another 2 years. They will become obese from the cheap processed food they undoubtedly eat and they will succumb to the inevitability of diabetes which is epidemic of people dependent on a Plantation diet.)
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