By Paul Vann

“Dad, I want to earn my own money. Can I go work in the tobacco field with my friends to earn money?”

“Sure son, but you had better understand it’s hard work, so do not come back home complaining to me.”

That conversation took place between me and my dad when I was 14 years old, and I want you to know, over the course of my life, I have worked hard.

Fast forward to the 21st century with most of the economists and policy wonks espousing about immigrants doing the work Americans will not do. That is a bunch of malarkey. I along with a long list of people have worked for less than and for minimum wages over the duration of our lives.

The Sunday morning talking heads and the economic pundits are referring to themselves when they say Americans will not work minimum wage jobs and or in the vineyards, tobacco and cotton fields of the United States. If you want to talk about how hard immigrants work, then let me take you down the road of poor black people, Caucasians, and Native Americans in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 2010.

African American, Caucasian, Native American and all manner of low income communities have worked extremely hard, but no one wants to talk about that. In fact, I just saw a segment on television that referred to how immigrants are working in a vineyard for eight dollars an hour, their take home pay $300 dollars per week, and they live spartan lives.

If you want to know what a spartan life is, my parents owned a house without indoor plumbing; now that is a real spartan lifestyle if you ask me. The interesting thing about the news stories and the immigration vibe is the politicians use immigration for their own purposes — in other words they do not want to upset the grape cart because of the immigrant votes they garner during an election.

The last time I checked, in 1986 President Ronald Reagan was the last leader who had the guts to address the immigration issue. Today you cannot get a politician to do anything. You mention healthcare and they run and hide, mention immigration and they run into a cave, mention getting involved in another country’s business and they are front and center.

Where have all the leaders gone? The leadership in Arizona took a stand to urge our federal government to do its job, and lo and behold our government used the judicial system to make a call on immigration. Where have all the leaders gone? I am not against immigrants coming to America, however, there is a right way to do it.

For example, if I decided to drive to Mexico and the government found out I was trying to work there, what do you think would happen? You know what would happen: They would throw me in prison or kick my rear out of their country. After all, Mexico has the most aggressive immigration laws in the world. Yes, I said the world.

Americans will work on farms, mow lawns, work in factories and perform manual labor work, they will not work for free like a lot of immigrants who oftentimes are not paid at all. When you find some leaders in America, contact me, I want to know who they are. Let us get back to work America — we are better than this.

Paul Lawrence Vann is an inspirational speaker that motivates people to achieve their greatest potential. He is author of Living on Higher Ground and is a prolific writer. Paul is a leadership development expert and worrplace diversity trainer. If you’re looking for a speaker who knows how to effectively resonate with audiences, Paul is your speaker of choice. Visit his website for more information.

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