Forum: Recognize worth of hard-working immigrant neighbors

By Ron Friesen / Herald Forum

Growing up in the Medford, Ore., area in the 1950s and ’60s was much like growing up in many parts of Eastern Washington. Agriculture dominated the economy. A major employer was Bear Creek which owned huge pear and peach orchards. They also had a huge packing plant that also serviced independent orchard owners. If you ever got a gift basket from them, you would remember!

The other giant was the timber industry. Logging trucks were on our roads year around. It was big business.

I benefited from the skills I learned, and the jobs I got provided the money I needed to go to college. Many of my peers stayed and built their lives in that economy. But something was off, which made it hard for me to stay.

Remember in 1971, when the billboard following huge layoffs at Boeing read, “Will the last person leaving Seattle turn out the lights”? The summer before was after my sophomore year at college. I worked at a lumber mill each summer and made good money. But that summer, the mills were shut down. I had to go job hunting. The pear orchards needed pickers, so I signed up. It was grueling work in 90 to 100 degree temperatures. I did this for two months before the mills reopened. I got quite a lesson.

I worked with seasonal Mexican laborers. We were paid by the pound of fruit picked. As hard as I tried, the Latino laborers could pick about twice as much as I could. So? I got a promotion. I was now the tractor driver and paid hourly. It never dawned on me until years later that the “promotion” was because I was white. I was told that the Mexicans were only good for fruit picking.

The workers were derisively called “wet-backs,” because many swam the Rio Grande river to come here illegally. But no one cared. Orchards had shacks for them to live in which looked like the living quarters I saw in pictures from Southern slave plantations. The story I heard was that we were doing them a favor. Conditions were so much worse in Mexico, it was said, that they were glad to have this opportunity. But in fact, we just had our own, modern version of the Southern plantation.

The point? “They” are the problem.

Immigrants, regardless of legal status, after working so hard, are at risk again from the president and mask-wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. We are told that only dangerous criminals are being rounded up and deported. It’s another big lie, similar to the lie Adolf Hitler told about the Jews. We are building detention centers and denying those arrested of their legal rights.

In Marysville, 16 percent of our population is Hispanic or Latino, with a higher percentage in our schools! Representation on our city council and school board? Nada. Our entire culture, exemplified by our broken immigration system, is designed to systematically keep Hispanic and Latino neighbors in their place, (just as red-lined neighborhoods were used against Black families). They cannot safely participate in our democracy for fear of being retaliated against and/or deported.

In Marysville, my Hispanic-Latino neighbors and business people are competent, reliable, honest, and hard-working. They contribute to our community and our state. But because of their immigration status, many struggle more than I did to build their lives here.

The “good life” is dangled in front of immigrants without providing a way to achieve it. Every parent wants a better life for their children and grandchildren. Is it any wonder that exploited workers, who help give us the “good life,” will do everything they can to provide that for their offspring?

Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Dreamer) program helped many, but was meant as a temporary solution until Congress could address their situation. We need a permanent solution. It starts with amnesty. Anyone who can show they are a contributing member of our community (which almost all are), should have the opportunity to become a citizen. Period. Then, overhaul the entire discriminatory system, which has been failing over 50 years. Calling all true Christians and patriots; anybody there?

Ron Friesen is a Marysville resident, a retired music teacher and community and church musician and is committed to community improvement.