The Black Community Competes with Immigrants

I have been guilty of railing against Illegal Immigration, as many people in this country have. The reason I try to call attention to this problem is due to the criminal element that is present with this flow of humanity across all our boarders. However, what about the one's that come here to work and to try to cash in on the American Dream of Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. This is a story of a few of these people who seem to be taking advantage of what we have to offer in a positive way. This story was reported first by CNN Headline News's Correspondent, Dan Lothain.

A African American man named Nikita Floyd started a landscaping business in Maryland. He started it with a dream of recruiting and hiring other African American workers. In fact, when Mr. Floyd started his business in the late 80's, he did hire a lot of Blacks to work for and with him. However, at present, he doesn't have one Black person working for him. Instead he has hired Latinos to do the work for him. He states (as it refers to the Black people that he hired in the past), "I just think it just became a lack of discipline...No, they weren't as dedicated...When my team is not cooperating with me, if my team calls in, if my team have continuous excuses or reasons why they can't come to work, no project can get done." He laments this fact with this statement, "Sometimes, hey, I do get a little lonely. I mean, I don't speak Spanish."

As Blacks disappeared off of Mr. Floyd's employment rosters, more and more Latinos came to work for him. He states, "...they are a readily available and dependable labor pool." He now has about 40 immigrants from El Salvador working for him as seasonal labor. He also said, "They buy into the American dream and they just really come for a genuine purpose... If one person won't show up and another person will, eventually you're going to select that person."

Mr. Floyds landscaping foreman, Santos Medranos, had this to say about the Latino workers they employ, "We are hard workers. And we came to America, you know, to work. You know, make life more easy." If you think these workers are under paid and abused workers they are not. Mr. Floyd's business is a $2.5 million/year business and he pays his workers more than the minimum wage and gives them incentives.

If you think Mr. Floyed would not hire Black's you'd be wrong. He states, "...I mean, (I'd hire) anybody who wants to work." The reporter Mr. Lothain asks Mr. Floyd, " Do black young people out there not want to do this work?" and Mr. Floyd responds, " ...For the most part." Mr. Floyd then stated, "Everybody can't be a rapper or a basketball player. I understood why Oprah moved her school to Africa because of the -- the kids just -- they just don't have the right zeal or the right attitude." He also says that his controversial words about the Black work ethic, "...is aimed, at teaching discipline and motivating the next generation." Mr. Floyd then stated that, "I hope that will change and that blacks now missing on the landscape will return to my payroll, dedicated like these crews. The report concludes his interview with Mr. Floyd by asking, "To the African-American community, what do you have to say?" and Mr. Floyd responds, "It's not where you start, it's where you finish."

Now, there are those here on AC that will take this article as a racist article and that I am bashing Black people but it is not meant in that spirit. In my line of work, I watch all these healthy young black men that have big dreams of the fast buck. They employ errors in thinking to obtain it and end up in the prison system. I think these young men are wasting their lives and should be doing something positive with themselves. It is really a travesty of culture to do this to one's self. There will always be those coming to this country that will be willing to work their way up from the bottom with hard work and determination.