Racism & Sexism paper #3

Reaction Paper #3
Buena Vista University
Phil 361

Introduction:
The immigrant experience, once considered the backbone of the United States’ heritage, is now too often one of discrimination in employment, social services and housing. From English-only policies in the workplace to the case of a Tennessee Mexican immigrant mother threatened with loss of custody of her daughter if she did not learn English, language is a frequent vehicle to force assimilation, and punish those who do not conform to the white middle class notion of the ideal immigrant. Immigrant women are particularly vulnerable. As caretakers of children they have more contact with the social services system, and in the workplace they are too often afraid to report sexual harassment, and illegal pay and working conditions because of the need to support their children. Because of discriminatory and exploitive working conditions, immigrants are also forced into unsafe housing. When those buildings are shut down, the poor laborers are left with nowhere else to go. 

Discrimination in Employment
In an article published January 26, 2004, The Christian Science Monitor reports on five women, employees of the Sephora cosmetics company, who, although expected to speak their native Spanish to customers in need of assistance, were forbidden from speaking the language to each other, even on their breaks. Their lawyer made the case that this amounted to discrimination on the basis of national origin, which is forbidden by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Sephora denied it had an English-only policy or that it discriminated in any way (CSM, 2004).

In a 2005 ruling on the suit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald upheld Sephora’s English-first policy (New York Daily News, 2005). In what the plaintiffs said was retaliation for the suit, when their Rockefeller Center store was closed, none of the women involved in the suit were offered the opportunity for work in another location (New York Daily Times, 2005).

In 2004 The New York Times reported on Manhattan businessman Albert Palacci who employed immigrant women in three stores, paid the women only $3.00 per hour instead of the minimum hourly wage of $5.15, and denied them raises unless they had sex with him. Jennifer Arnett, a lawyer with the Women’s Rights Project said that these abuses are far too common in New York City. The abuse is systemic. One of Palacci’s employees who was allegedly fired for refusing her boss’s advances ended up working for another retailer in Upper Manhattan who paid her only $3.63 an hour for eleven hour days (NYT, 2004).

Discrimination in Social Services
In 2005 The Los Angeles Times reported Wilson County, Tennessee Judge Barry Tatum, who, according to the Lebanon Democrat, ordered a woman who appeared before him in October 2004 to learn English within six months or be stripped of her parental rights to her daughter (LA Times 2005). Nor was this the only case so disposed by Judge Tatum. According to the Nashville Hispanic Notebook, in April of 2005 the same judge ordered Victoria Luna to learn English and use birth control in order to retain custody of her three-year-old daughter (Nashville Hispanic Notebook, 2005).

Judge Tatum’s orders were met with approval by the residents of Lebanon. “…if people are going to be in this country, we all have a moral obligation to learn the language,” Bob Bright is quoted as saying. Perhaps due to pressure brought to bear by the publicity, Judge Tatum backed down and rephrased his order as a “recommendation” and returned to Ms. Luna the custody of her daughter, while deferring disposition of the original case against Felipa Barrera (NHN, 2005).

Discrimination in housing
The New York Times reported in 2005 that up to 64 Mexican immigrant were living in a 900 square foot house in Farmington, New York, in which safety conditions were so bad that the county was forced to shut down the house and arrest the owner. This was only one of 123 pending cases in Farmington, almost all of which involved Mexican laborer residents (NYT 2005).
One could applaud the closure of such exploitive and dangerous living conditions were it not for the fact that those evicted had nowhere else to go. The residents accused Mr. Steve Levy, executive of Suffolk County, of racism by leaving them no place to live. Rev. Allan B. Ramirez, an advocate for the illegal immigrants, summarized the situation by asking that if a home were closed and 40 dogs were removed, would they be tossed out on the street or whether other accommodations for them would be found. In response, Mr. Levy vowed that the raids will continue, regardless of the homelessness of the tenants (NYT, 2005).

Conclusion
Immigrants to this country, both documented and undocumented, are at elevated risk of exploitation in employment, social services and housing. This must be recognized, and vigorous effort must be made to enforce equality, fairness and safety for them as a matter of the human rights upon which the United States was founded. All residents of this country should have the right to preserve their cultural heritage in language, religion and private practice, so far as it does not violate the rights and freedoms of someone else, and the right to these customs should be protected by the courts. While an employer may have the right to insist upon English proficiency as a requirement for a job, that right should not extend to lunch and other breaks, or to time away from customers.

The issue of illegal immigration must be resolved, preferably with some form of amnesty for those already here, and a documented guest worker program should be implemented to guard against the exploitation of those who currently have no legal recourse. Attempted sexual extortion should be punished with the full force of law without fear of retaliation against those reporting the violations, either from the employer or the U.S. immigration service.

These are matters of basic human rights to which the United States should subscribe if they wish to retain any moral authority in the world community.

References

Christian Science Monitor (2004) Paula S. Rothenberg (Ed), Where “English Only” Falls Short in Class, And Gender In the United States (seventh edition) (p. 271-272)

Nashville Hispanic Notebook (2005) Judge Grants Custody Without Enforcing English “Recommendation” retrieved February 1, 2009 from http://www.hispanicnashville.com/2005_04_01_hispanicnashville_archive.html

New York Times (2004) Paula S. Rothenberg (Ed), Manhattan Store Owner Accused of Underpaying and Sexually Harassing Workers in Class, And Gender In the United States (seventh edition) (p. 280-281)

New York Times (2005) Paula S. Rothenberg (Ed), On L.I., Raid Stirs Dispute Over Influx of Immigrants in Class, And Gender In the United States (seventh edition) (p. 311-313)

Zambito, Thomas (2005) (Job) Lost in Translation, in the New York Daily News, retrieved February 1, 2009 from http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2005/11/21/2005-11-21__job__lost_in_translation_5_.html

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