Cities That Are Outlawing Day Laborers

Bigotry is, sadly, too often disguised as “doing the right thing.” The mayor of the city of Orange, Don E. Smith, and other City Council members are proposing to do the “right thing.” Though they claim they are simply “protecting their community” by prohibiting day laborers from soliciting work in open areas of the city, they are really exploiting it.

It is natural for people to fear the foreign and the different. By definition, fear usually accompanies the unknown. But this is where true leaders step in to calm people and point out the similarities between the differences and the familiar among the foreign.

Sadly, we allow fears to be educated into us. Demagoguery depends on this. But if we wish, if we, as Americans, are truly special, we can insist that our so-called “leaders” stop exploiting the dark side of people. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the citizens of Orange would tell Smith to take a hike along with his “brown scare” rhetoric?

GERARDO MOUET

Irvine