Thursday, December 12, 2002

SHOCKING TRUE TALES OF IMMIGRATION: The blog called wimminandminoritiesdotcom links to a whole set of Washington Post stories on the daily lives and ambitions of young immigrants and children of immigrants. It's stuff worth reading. Above blog found via Monstah.

I like this quote:

Music from the choir drifts outside. The limo driver is leaning against a railing on the church steps. Mel McHenry specializes in Vietnamese weddings. He also teaches at a nail academy, which is how he got in with the Viet community. A black man from the South, he spends a lot of time thinking about how a group of immigrants can make the leap from refugee boat to a limousine in 25 years. He lights a cigarette.

"See, we're born with it," McHenry says of Americans. "We're used to flipping a switch. The bulb burns out and we're pissed off. Them? What switch?"

McHenry dusts a piece of lint from his tuxedo. "There is no such thing as my money," he says. "The money goes to the house. They save that money. You watch the men come out of this church. They're in those $5 Kmart block shoes. They come trompin' out, can't hardly walk."

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