Most of us already know, don’t we?
An update from my life, or rather, some of my family’s.
One of my brothers quit high school about a year ago and has had a long rough year. I caught up w/ my mom on the phone this weekend, got an update myself.
My brother walked into this place recently and said he needed a job. The guy said, what do you want to do? He said, I’d like to be a welder but I’ll take anything, sweeping floors or whatever. The guy asked where he’d welded before. He said, I’ve been welding in my backyard for about a year, working on cars. The guy said come back tomorrow for the welding test. He came back the next morning. Different guy, says what do you think you’re doing here? He says, I think I’m here to take a welding test. The guy says, how old are you? He says 18. The guy laughs, do you really think you can do it? He says, I don’t know, I’d like to try.
They gave him the welding taste and kept laughing at him as he was welding. Two hours in he realized they were laughing because he was doing it well. He got the job. It’s his first, as far as I know. The hourly rate could be better, based on where I live, but where he lives it’s a good gig. Health insurance is paid for. The weekly shift is intense, it’s a full time and a half or full time and three quarters shift. Between 60-70 hours a week. Tiring shift even for work that’s not as demanding. Take home is equivalent to what an established high school teacher gets paid in the same area. It’s a five minute drive from where he lives.
He likes his co-workers, who are pretty much all Mexican and mostly undocumented. His shift partner told him “I took three years of English classes at the community college and I learned more English from you in the past two weeks.” He’s learning Spanish. Several co-workers have asked him “are you really Mexican?” He looks it (and is, genetically) but doesn’t really speak Spanish. One guy called him white-boy. He said, get over here. Rolled up his sleeve, the guy’s sleeve, the guy blushed cuz he’s paler. Several co-workers have said you’re 18, you should get married! I’ve got daughters, I want them to end up with a hard worker like you! He says, I can barely take care of myself! They tell him that if he stays at it for a while, since he’s documented and speaks English, he could get a better paying job eventually at the plant, or go work at another plant where the base pay is almost double. His co-workers play soccer after work, he says I don’t know how you guys have the energy to do anything after work, I just go home, eat, then sleep. Many of them have worked there for a few years, maybe his body will adjust.
His second week on Monday he asked my mom, why do I feel so rotten? She said, it’s the Monday blues. You’ll feel better later in the week. He said, when, tomorrow? Wednesday? She said, no, probably thursday when the week’s almost done. He noticed that his co-workers were crabby early in the week, got friendlier and more playful toward thursday. The daily shifts also get shorter later in the week - four 12s, one 10, one 8.
My mom also told me about attending the big protest in her locale about immigration “reform”. My brother said he wants to save up money and move to Mexico, the way this country treats Mexicans is disgusting he said, he doesn’t want to live in the US forever. People kept coming up to my mom saying god bless you and thank you for being here - there weren’t many white people present.
At the school she teaches at the administration told teachers that any students who missed school on the day of a big immigration protest were to have a test grade of zero entered into their grades. One student went from 90th percentile in a class to 83rd (I’m not sure if that’s raw grade or rank compared to other students). My mom refused to do it and told her students so. She’s put in her notice at the job - part of the newly increased urgency in my brother’s job hunt - because the workload is too much and is increasing next year, and because of institutional practices like these.