Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Darwin (Catholic) becomes Mexican   posted by Razib @ 6/13/2007 12:12:00 PM
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Darwin Catholic has an interest post about work Americans won't do. Darwin & his wife believe in doing their own yard work (I believe they live in Texas, so is probably pretty transgressive). So check this:
I was pounding away with a short-handled mattock when one of a group of teenagers slouching by shouts in my general direction, "Stupid wetback! What ya doin?"

Now, I'm half-Mexican in ancestry, but no one ever guesses it. My hair isn't that dark, and although I take a tan if I get around to going outside enough, I'm not really olive at all. But apparently if I'm wearing workboots, jeans and a white t-shirt and covered in sweat and dirt while working in the yard -- it is actually possible for people to recognize my Mexican background. Perhaps I was even doing some of that famous work that Americans won't do.


A few months ago I was at a fancy restaurant that was going through some renovation, and I overheard one of the diners chatting up one of the owners. They were discussing how nice the new facade was turning out, and the diner blurted out, "Is the man working on this Latin American?" Turns out he wasn't (at least that's what the owner said). Anyway, here is a map of the density of illegal immigrants across the United States. In most of America there is a lot of work that Americans won't do.

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