'Replace Mexican farm workers with blacks from the inner-city to pick crops'

[HipChick]

Congressional candidate Jack Davis shocked local Republican leaders in a recent interview when he suggested that Latino farmworkers be deported -- and that African-Americans from the inner city be bused to farm country to pick the crops.

Several sources who were in the Feb. 20 endorsement interview with Davis confirmed his comments, which echo those he made to the Tonawanda News in 2008, when he said: "We have a huge unemployment problem with black youth in our cities. Put them on buses, take them out there and pay them a decent wage; they will work."



http://www.buffalonews.com/topics/chris-lee/special-election/article367437.ece

[Cirque du So-What]

1. For most of my life, I 've heard racists make similar suggestions

but this is the first time I've heard such idiocy uttered by an actual candidate for public office. They're feeling especially emboldened of late, it appears.

[Raschel]

5. A Black president has brought all of the roaches out from the dark.

[Maru Kitteh]

12. yup. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. +1000

[brewens]

2. I sent my "Harvest Corps" proposal to our Governor in Idaho,

C.L. "Butch" "Did You Get That Nickname From Larry Craig" Otter. This was a few years ago when unemployment wasn't so bad, so it was funnier.
If we were going to get rid of all the migrant farm workers, we would need to replace them at harvest time. My idea was to draft a Harvest Corps. If you were able bodied and unemployed, you'd be called up and put on a bus to the fields to pick crops.
The good part was, we wouldn't care who you were, or even if you weren't working because you were rich already. If you were unemployed, your ass was on the bus! The prospect of working in the fields would have caused a lot of lazy assed racists, to change their tune on immigration. I actually picked cucumbers and moved irrigation pipe, at a commercial cucumber growing operation as a kid. Brutal work, that I know most people couldn't or wouldn't do.
The whole point of assholes with the Confederate flags is to send a message to African Americans. They are saying, "we'd put your ass right back in the fields if we had our way!"

[alfredo]

13. I worked the tobacco fields as a youth. It's cruel and unusual punishment.

[spanone]

3. the racists in this country cannot stand our half-caucasian President

it's bringing the cockroaches out of the woodwork

[notadmblnd]

4. I have a better idea. Our politicians are already well (over) paid

and we get next to nothing out of them. Let's put them on a bus and let them pick crops. We can house them in a roach infested bunk house with no electricity, no pluming and no heat. Give them a straw hat and sell them colas for their thirst while out in the fields. And when they get hurt or poisoned by pesticides, we could have a quack Dr. on hand to tell them that they are perfectly healthy and send them back out to work some more.

[Raschel]

6. That way Boehner can get a free tan. Eh, he probably gets it free already.

[jacquelope]

26. Boehner? In the sun? That's insta-kill! n/t

.

[MadHound]

7. Pay people decent wages, whether they're black or white, they will do farm work.

The trouble is, farm work doesn't pay decent wages, and if it did, we would have to raise prices a bit. Consumers would scream a little, and agriculture corporations would take a hit on the their profits. That's why we're going to continue to rely on immigrant labor, both legal and otherwise.

[RZM]

8. Well said n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

9. Don't forget decent working conditions (like access to porta-potties & drinking water and breaks)

plus adequate housing for seasonal laborers and safeguards against pesticide/herbicide exposure. Most of these items are addressed in current law but some growers count on workers who don't know about them or who are afraid to rock the boat.

[alfredo]

15. They had us on piece work as independent contractors.

They didn't have to supply anything in the way of water, porta-potties, and breaks. All we'd get is a knife and a spear, and acres of tobacco to be cut in the August sun.

[Gormy Cuss]

22. One of the many abuses of "independent contractor" positions.

It used to be that an independent contractor meant that the person was making more than hired help, now the term is used as a substitute for day laborer/temp worker.

[alfredo]

27. On the farm, you are lucky not to have to pay for the

use of the knife and spear.

[Hugabear]

10. +1

well said

[exboyfil]

19. Actually I think we would also import

alot more fruits and vegetables. Those crops are already competitive with domestically grown even after the cost and hassle of transport.

Has any economist studied the labor content in our frutis and vegetables to assess how much more can be paid while still remaining globally competitive? It would be an interesting approach.

Something is wrong though when you have idle hands receiving government payments while we also import labor. I disagree with the way the Congressman expressed the thought, but the question remains can migratory work be performed by those who are idle? There is virtue in work of any type. If exploited labor is not available, unless the increased wages become uncompetitive, then higher wages will attract workers.

[MH1]

25. the other problem is that it's seasonal

and there is no health care insurance when not working (even if there is when working, which I think is not true either)

the way our employment and health care system is set up, being employed seasonally is a bad situation.

fix that and then the title of your post will very likely be true.

[vaberella]

11. I knew talk about "fore fathers" translated to "BRING BACK SLAVERY." n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. Get a handle on illegal immigration and the rest will happen naturally.

If farmers can't find labor south of the border, they'll recruit it from high-unemployment areas north of the border, and pay whatever it takes.

[ZombieHorde]

16. Holy fucking shit. nt

[Fearless]

17. Other than racist connotations... Corporate farmers aren't willing to pay a fair wage.

[roxiejules]

18. Davis ran as a Democrat and lost

Proving perhaps that many of our elected officals do 'theatre' rather than representing citizens.

Davis, an Akron industrialist, ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2004, 2006 and 2008, and was seeking the GOP nod this time.

Spurned by the party, he is now collecting signatures in hopes of appearing as the Tea Party candidate in the May 24 special election.

Through his campaigns, Davis has struck a populist bent, raging against the impact free trade has had on local manufacturing and the effect illegal immigration has had on the country. Sources said he repeated those sentiments in the February meeting with GOP leaders.

[Duer 157099]

20. How soon before they say what they really, really mean

Which is: "if we hadn't done away with slavery in the first place..."

You know that is what they are really thinking.

[malaise]

21. I say put Jack Davis and his clan

on buses - let them out to pick. These fuckers would reintroduce slavery in a second - only they have the right to run their own lives.

[FLAprogressive]

24. gee, back to the 1800s.

:eyes: