UmSumayyah
Well-Known Member
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/us/mississippi-ice-raids-poultry-plants.html
But Mr. Grant clearly remembered Aug. 7, the day the Trump administration performed sweeping immigration raids on seven chicken plants in central Mississippi. He remembered the news flashing on his phone: 680 Hispanic workers arrested. He remembers seeing an opportunity.
“I figured there should be some jobs,” he said.
He figured right.
......
Then there was Mr. Grant, only two years out of high school and still finding his way in the world. He said it felt good to be earning $11.23 an hour, even if the new job entailed cutting off necks and pulling out guts on a seemingly endless conveyor of carcasses. It was about $4 better, he said, than what he used to earn at a Madison County cookie factory.
But he also called the raids “cruel” and “mean.” There were moments when the necks and guts and ambivalence and guilt all mixed together so that he wondered whether he wanted to stick with the job.
“It’s like I stole it,” he said, “and I really don’t like what I stole.”
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The article contains a brief history of the job, it used to be done by white people, protests/boycotts by black people helped them get hired for the jobs as well. From what I have read previously about chicken plant work, it's not the safest occupation.
But Mr. Grant clearly remembered Aug. 7, the day the Trump administration performed sweeping immigration raids on seven chicken plants in central Mississippi. He remembered the news flashing on his phone: 680 Hispanic workers arrested. He remembers seeing an opportunity.
“I figured there should be some jobs,” he said.
He figured right.
......
Then there was Mr. Grant, only two years out of high school and still finding his way in the world. He said it felt good to be earning $11.23 an hour, even if the new job entailed cutting off necks and pulling out guts on a seemingly endless conveyor of carcasses. It was about $4 better, he said, than what he used to earn at a Madison County cookie factory.
But he also called the raids “cruel” and “mean.” There were moments when the necks and guts and ambivalence and guilt all mixed together so that he wondered whether he wanted to stick with the job.
“It’s like I stole it,” he said, “and I really don’t like what I stole.”
--------------------------------------
The article contains a brief history of the job, it used to be done by white people, protests/boycotts by black people helped them get hired for the jobs as well. From what I have read previously about chicken plant work, it's not the safest occupation.