A garment factory in Chinatown works well into the night. As much as you hear about China’s economic boom, the majority of the people in the worlds most populated country are still poor and come to New York by the thousands each year looking for work. My super told me that East Broadway is the first stop for the majority of them. I wonder what these women get paid per hour?
Posted on June 26, 2008 at 08:20 AM | Previous Entry | Next Entry | Entry List | Email Entry | Digg
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There are 2 total comments about this entry. The most recent comment was posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago...
This is a great post and very insightful reply. Thank you.
I live in a neighborhood with many immigrants as well so
I see all the restaurant workers and laborers out early and in late.
The fourth is around the corner and a whole bunch of lazy
jerks are gonna be spouting off about “What it means to be
American” as they gorge themselves on a lifestyle of convenience
and complacency. When I hear that I think about these people who
are earning it for real. Risking everything, however little, to hopefully
have a chance to work their asses off to chase the dream.
That’s how it got built. Frontier spirit.
Respect.
Realize that dream.
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Their wages might be under what you’d call healthy, but you’d be amazed at the strength in some of those communities. My girlfriend is a refugee from Laos. Her family came over in the early 80’s, and worked in an ice cream factory for wages that would make most of us laugh. Her mother did everything she could to give her kids the best education, and they all went on to lead relatively successful lives. Don’t get me wrong, from what i’ve heard it wasn’t easy. they lived in the roughest area of town, she was harrassed, chased, and almost raped by a group of adult men at the age of 8. sometimes, for food, her brother went out hunting squirrel and pigeon. but they had a really close knit community, and through the worst, there was always helping hands. being the outsider (american boy) that i am, everything about her family and community amazes me.