Built on the Backs of Immigrants?

IWB ^ | Mark Angelides

[davikkm]

It is becoming a hugely popular sound bite used by politicos and pundits to state that “’X’ was built on the backs of immigrants.” We’ve heard it about America; we’ve heard it about the UK. But is it really true? And if so, what are the implications?

First let’s examine what this somewhat vague statement could mean or imply:

It means that the actual work of building “X” was physically done by immigrants. It means that the wealth produced by immigrant labor for “the elite” was used to produce or build “X.” It implies that if immigrants hadn’t been forced to do the work, it wouldn’t have been done. It implies that those who are not immigrants (no one really knows how far back this should go!!) owe a debt to those that are. It implies that Americans/Brits alive today, owe their “privilege” to immigrants who arrive today.

[rdcbn]

America was built on the backs of immigrants?

Balcony, everyone knows America was built on the backs of black slaves./s

Next we will be told America was built on the backs of LGBTQA activists

[rjsimmon]

Anything built by immigrants was done so because the immigrant came here to work. Any debt owed was paid in wages.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

Just because a horse is used to plow a field doesn’t make it a farmer.

[LostPassword]

It can mean all that. But for some it’s simply an argument that immigration is good and we should accept all immigrants (diversity is good, merit is useless, families matter, etc). But even in that intent, they are wrong.

100+ years ago, most of what needed to be built could be done by anyone able and willing to work. Education, knowledge, and experience were not in great demand and a little training could quickly get most immigrants productive. And when they failed, there wasn’t a lawsuit waiting if they were fired and OSHA inspecting the accident they caused and the EEOC making sure all the right people are hired.
And, if immigrants didn’t “build something” they didn’t eat.

Today, a large % of what we build needs education, knowledge and experience. Hiring, firing, and safety have very expensive potential risks. And if an immigrant doesn’t work they can collect many resources from taxpayers.

Whether or not liberals like it, we are in a very different era than their “good old days” when slaves and uneducated immigrants could make significant contributions to our country.

[sickoflibs]

A rationale for racial based Reparations to blacks has been given as black slaves from Africa built America and now their descendants should be repaid.

Now the new argument is that illegals built this country for us instead.

[B-Rizzle Fo-Shizzle]

I think it’s time to put to bed the whole “we are all immigrants’ garbage to bed. My family came over as colonist. They left home and came to a land that had relatively no infrastructure, no productivity, and in many cases lacked functioning government and public institutions.From there they built, with other colonist, a new country where none existed before. That is what drove the engine that made this county. In many cases immigrants who arrived after the fact were nothing more than labor (broad brush but accurate in many cases). Their descendants integrated into the society built by colonist, created by colonist, and nurtured by the colonist and their descendents. Granting some mythical status to slaves and manual labor immigrants building this country is the equivalent of saying bulldozers deserve special recognition and we need to import more now.

[ViLaLuz]

While building the world and a LBGTQXYZ breaks her/his/its fingernail, it’s a global disaster!