by Tom Rodriguez

Over the past six years, my two children, Darren and Alexis-Havana, and I have traveled all across this great nation, driving about 7,000 miles each summer. We have traveled East, West, North, South, and throughout the Heartland states. All told, we have driven over 40,000 miles, visited 38 states, 96 national parks, monuments, and historic sites. We have visited cities with over 5 million people to towns with 600 people. But, no matter where we traveled we saw Hispanic people working in jobs that were clearly essential to the economies of the cities and towns that we visited.

The Mexicans: Salinas Valley, California		Photos by Steve Crouch

We saw Hispanic workers repairing and building highways, driving trucks, working on construction projects, building houses, waiting on customers, busing tables, cooking meals, washing dishes, working as hostesses, cutting lawns, cleaning streets, etc., etc. We also saw Hispanics working in hotels and motels as maids, bellmen, maintenance workers, reservation clerks, and managers. In the far West, we saw Hispanics tending to the millions of grape vines in California and picking nuts, lettuce and fruit in the San Joaquin Valley. In the heartland states, we saw Hispanics working on farms and ranches, and many in cattle feed lots and meat processing plants. Everywhere we went, Hispanic people were working as service workers in fast-food restaurants and as sales clerks and stock clerks at Wal-Marts, Targets, Home Depots, Walgreens, and just about anyplace where goods are bought and sold. I also noticed that many Hispanics had started small businesses, which were predominantly small Mexican food restaurants, but also included deli's, Mexican furniture and pottery shops, small grocery stores, auto repair shops, bakeries, insurance companies, clothes alteration shops, etc., etc.

From New York to California, from Florida to Washington State, and from Idaho to Missouri, we saw Latinos working. In Kansas City, Cheyenne, Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Gettysburg, New Orleans, Savannah, and Great Falls, Montana, we saw Hispanic people working hard to keep their communities strong. In many cases, those hard-working individuals did not speak English, or if they did, it was with difficulty.

At famous tourist sites like Niagara Falls, Stone Mountain, Yellowstone National Park, Carlsbad Caverns, the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, and Yosemite, we encountered Hispanic people working. Regrettably, while we did not see many His- panic tourists enjoying the scenic wonders of those national landmarks, we did see Hispanic workers at every one of those places earning a living and making the lives of tourists more comfortable and enjoyable.

We also saw Hispanic workers at more remote sites like Glacier National Park, Crater Lake, the Redwood National Forest, the Great Smoky Mountains, the Little Bighorn Battlefield, Devil's Tower, Aztec Ruins, Canyon de Chelly, and the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.

As a proud American of Mexican origin, I can not help but wonder what would happen to this country if one day all of the Hispanic workers in America disappeared? Who would fill their shoes? Who would be willing to bus the tables, tend the grapevines, pick the nuts, tomatoes and lettuce, and all of the other things that require human hands to harvest? Who would build the millions of new homes, schools, restaurants, and office buildings going up each day all across America? I wondered whether the current generation of young Americans, if faced with the challenge, would really be willing to do those menial and physically demanding jobs for minimum wages? Would they be willing to work day in and day out, month after month, and year after year, in the oppressive heat of summer and bitter cold of winter doing back-breaking construction work, farm and ranch work, and cleaning up others people messes?

During our last trip, I asked my two children, who are in every way typical American youth, if they would do those hard jobs? Their answers, not surprisingly, were that they absolutely would not do those hard jobs! My son, Darren, a senior in his last semester at UNLV, said that the main reason he went to college was so that he wouldn't ever have to do that kind of hard work. My daughter, Alexis-Havana, a very bright middle school student, said that she just couldn't see herself working in a fast-food restaurant or waiting on tables.

For many reasons, but particularly because I am the son of hard-working immigrants from Mexico, I could not help but be concerned at hearing their comments. I suppose it was because I grew up poor and started to work at age ten selling newspapers, shining shoes, and picking just about every thing that can be picked, to include potatoes, tomatoes, apples, peaches, pears, strawberries, green beans, etc., etc.

Inevitably, my thoughts on this subject started me thinking about the current antiimmigrant sentiment that has and still is sweeping across this country. In doing so, I wondered how many non-Hispanic Americans had traveled this country as I have, and seen first hand the positive impact that Hispanic workers - legal and illegal - are having on our nation's economy?

I concluded that the majority of people in America have not traveled extensively, and that very few had ever done so to the extent that my children and I had. In fact, the majority of people that I know very seldom travel anyplace unless they can fly there. Admittedly, there is a lot to say for getting somewhere quickly. By flying, however, there is so much that is missed, so much that is interesting and wonderful about this great country. For example, I never would have learned why Montana is called the "Big Sky Country" if I had not driven throughout the state and witnessed the phenomena first-hand, and I never would have understood why the "Going to the Sun Road" in Glacier National Park is so named. I would also have missed the beauty and solitude of the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, and never seen the strange and monstrous rock formation called "Devil's Tower" in Wyoming.

Similarly, had I not traveled by automobile across this vast nation, I would not have witnessed first-hand the presence of Hispanic people in every small town that we visited across America. Had I not driven, I would also not have been able to assess just how valuable Hispanic workers are to the economies of the large and small cities and towns that we visited.

Inevitably, my thoughts brought me back to the recent failure of our elected leaders in Washington, D. C. to enact a sensible and compassionate Immigration Reform Bill. Don't they know that the lure of the "American Dream" will never stop drawing people to our country? Surely, those of us who have lived the American Dream can understand how desperate and committed these immigrants are? Why then, I wonder, is this country of people who have so much of everything, treating people who have nothing, so mean?

Don't they know, or care, that illegal immigrants will continue to take higher and higher risks until they make it across the border? Don't they know or care that more people will die in the mountains and deserts, or die crossing a river, just to try to make it here? Sadly, I don't know the answer to any of those questions, but I am convinced that therein lies the solution to the Immigration Reform issue!

In closing, I strongly recommend that everyone who reads this article get out and see America and that they drive instead of fly. If, or when you do so, take your time, pay attention to the people and places you visit, enjoy the endless diversity and beauty of this fantastic country, and along the way, don't forget to notice who serves you your food, who cleans your rooms, washes your dishes, takes your orders, checks you into your hotels and motels, and who is it that is really making your life more comfortable.

If you do those things, I can assure you that you will see things that you have taken for granted for so many years.