July 13 – a day off in “beautiful” Sioux Falls. Actually a rather nice town (pop.
163,000) with sculptures all through the downtown area, a nice park around the
namesake falls, and a lovely bike path ringing the town. Rode 16 miles to see a Sioux Falls
Canaries minor league game, tour around town and take a dip at a city pool.
July 14 – 73 miles from Sioux Falls, SD to Worthington, MN,
plus another 4 around town. Lots
of corn and soybeans, but a lovely ride despite some headwinds. The highlight was learning about the
immigrant communities of the area – see notes below.
July 15 – 103 miles to Mankato, MN. This was the flattest day yet, though
the leader, Mike, said there was 900 ft of hills, somewhere. As winds were light and favorable and
temps not too hot (high 80’s), I decided to push it a bit. Finished the century in about 5 ½ hours
of riding, for an average speed of 18 mph. Easily my fastest century ever. I certainly could not have done anything close to this
before the ride, so I must be getting stronger. As for the scenery – corn on the left, soybeans on the
right, windmills in the distance, varying with corn on the right, soybeans on
the left, and windmills close by.
With an occasional quaint small town – I particularly like Adrian, MN
(named, I understand, after my Pfizer colleague, Adrian Metcalf – who know he
was already so famous?)
July 16 – 103 miles to Rochester, MN, in higher heat (upper
80’s) and humidity. More rolling
farmland, so a harder ride – only 14.5 mph. First time for me to do back to back centuries, so with the
headwind, I came in pretty tired. Saw
4 lakes today, so only 9,996 to go in Minnesota.
The big new skill gained over the past few days has been the
ability to tell the difference between a chicken factory, hog barn and cattle
feed lot, just by the smell. If
you have to choose, take the cows – chickens are bad and hogs the worst. Ah, the things you learn.
Thoughts:
Guitar Strap:
Immigrants in the heartland
Having arrived in Worthington, MN early in the afternoon,
Norm and I ventured into town to
get lunch and see what there is to see in this small, SW Minnesota town (pop.
around 12,000.) Predictably, on
the outskirts, was the strip of franchise fast food and motels, on a four land
road leading to the I-90 exit.
Once in town, there were neat post-war Cape Cods on the edge, the tree
covered streets and fine old colonials closer to downtown, then an 8 or 10
block 1920’s vintage downtown, with fading glory and some vacant shops. More or less what we have come to
expect of small town America in the post-Walmart, corporate agriculture era.
Then the surprise, at least for me. The signs on the shops downtown were
mostly bilingual – with Spanish in the larger letters. If not bilingual, they were all in
Spanish. Clearly there is a significant
Hispanic presence. And judging
from the faces seen, also some southeast Asian presence. Worthington is far from any border or
port of entry, and has no migrant labor needs to speak of (as all agriculture
is mechanized in these parts) – so why?
I spied a store of interest, “Tienda de Musica y Ropa”. They probably would have a guitar
strap, which I needed for my new guitar. I bought an inexpensive strap, then
engaged the proprietor in some conversation (in mixed English and
Spanish). He was from Guatemala,
and told me that most of the Hispanic population around was from Mexico and
Central America. The immigrants
worked in the Swift Meatpacking plant, because that plant always needed
labor. Beyond this, I gained
little info – its possible he suspected I was an INS agent.
Later on, riding back to the hotel, I saw a young man on his
bicycle, carrying, wrapped in newspaper, what was obviously a machete (at least
obvious to me, having recently been in Nicaragua and seeing a lot of
this.) I infer that he was a
recent arrival from the campo of Central America, as it is common there to
carry a machete wherever you go, and this young man had not yet lost the
custom.
Returning to my room, I did a little internet research. According to recent census data, about
21% of Worthington’s population is Hispanic, and 6% from Laos and Vietnam
(mostly Hmong, I later learned) = presumably almost all arriving in the last
several decades (hence the Spanish signs.) This is a very high foreign-born percentage for a such a
remote town in the heartland, rivaling many major cities, such as New York.
Explanation:
Swift employs thousands.
Wages are kept as low as possible, and the manual labor jobs are among
the most physically demanding and dangerous in industry, according to OSHA
statistics. Poor immigrants,
desperate for work, will take these jobs, but few long term US residents (white
or any other color) with options for other employment. So Swift brings in the immigrants, or
allows them to come in, sometimes with work visas, and sometimes not. (My
roommate George, who hails from Minnesota, told me Swift was raided by INS
recently and many undocumented workers were found. But then, he also said that many of the cases are being
appealed, as what worker carries around immigration documentation while working
in a meatpacking plant?) Doing a
bit more digging, I learned that similar situations exist through the meat
processing centers of the mid-west, such as Sioux Falls, with its giant Morrell
plant (see picture).
Of course, it is a vicious cycle – wages and working
conditions are bad because immigrants can be found to do the work at these low
rates. And immigrants can be found
because the wages are too low for other Americans. But we all like cheap meat, and the corporations
(meat-packers, driven by supermarket companies) compete to keep costs low for
us, and this is one way to do it.
(Others include feedlots and hogbarns, massive antibiotic injections to
promote growth, genetic manipulation, etc.)
My view on all of this, getting into the politics of
immigration and “border security”: it really does not matter who gets elected –
Republican or Democrat, McCain or Obama.
Essentially nothing will change, at least for the poorer immigrants,
because the forces are entrenched and balanced to keep things as they are. The voices of populism, racism and fear
(presumably of terrorists, but really of changes in culture) want to keep
“them” out. Balancing this is the
need in our economy for poor immigrants to do the jobs that we can not find
sufficient longer-term American residents to do. Meat-packers are only one example. Think about picking fruit and vegetables; caring for the
infirm elderly; labor for landscapers; the rough, dirty and temporary
construction trades; dishwashers and other back-room restaurant help; etc.,
etc. We need this labor, and
the companies, large and small, want the labor both to keep their prices down
and because the immigrants are generally excellent workers. So despite the populist outcry, the
forces of economics and the political influence of companies large and small
will keep the immigrants coming in, wall or no wall on the border. But these economic forces are not
sufficient to make changes in the laws, as the politicians are too scared of
the xenophobic vote. It’s a draw,
a hypocritical draw, grossly unfair to the hardworking immigrants. But that’s how it will be for the
foreseeable future.
