New South

Your glowing account of foreign investment and economic development in the Carolinas and Tennessee tells only one side of the story of the “New South” (Feb. 15). Where are the voices of Tennessee poultry workers paralyzed by carpal tunnel syndrome? Where are the anguished cries of the family and friends of the 25 laborers killed in a chicken processing plant in Hamlet, N.C.? Where are the protests of underpaid migrant farm workers in the Carolinas? These are the silent “others” who toil far from the shining beacons of progress that cling to Interstate 85.

But their stories are also the stories of the New South. They are the victims of the very same government boosterism that lures overseas companies to the region with promises of tax breaks and an endless stream of docile and deferential workers. The architects of the newest of the New Souths do not discriminate; they are happy to sell laborers, black or white, female or male, Asian or Latino, to the lowest bidder.

BRYANT SIMON

Pasadena