"Nickel and Dimed" (courtesy of George Mason University)

A book written by Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed sets out  to investigate the impact of 1996 welfare reform on the United States. Barbara Ehrenreich throughout the novel moved from Florida to Maine, and also Minnesota, working minimum wage jobs, such as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide, and also at Wal-mart. All of these jobs came with no benefits at all. So if you had children, you would still have to depend on the state. She soon finds out that if you want to survive in America and at minimum wage you need atleast two jobs, because one just won’t work. I find this book to be very humorous, and an eye opener to America. Regardless of how Amercans feel we should have better living conditions when working at minimum wage. I really enjoyed the book and would like more young people to read it, and pass it along. Please feel free to leave a comment especially if you read the book.

Hundreds marched to stop the E-verify system.

Workers from Overhills Farm, American Apparel, Farmer Johns and others joined to march in order to stop the rampant I-9 audits and E-verify. E-verify is system that makes sure whether someone can legally work in the US. Whenever someone applies for a job, the person’s information is put in the system and in a matter of seconds the system determines whether the person can legally work. American Apparel, the biggest company to have undocumented people working, is going to fire many hard working people because of E-verify. The company is definitely feeling the loss of those workers therefore they are supporting the workers. E-verify is also affecting people who can legally work in the US. The E-verify system has a 10% error rate, which means that the system is likely to make errors on verifying who can legally work in the US. Already many undocumented people are being fired for not having legal authorization to work in the US. Documented workers are also being fired because of the 10% error rate. The system puts a lot of stress on people who are trying to get a job and those who alread have one. 

The decision to stop E-verify is in the hands of our president, Barack Obama. If the E-verify continues to be implemented, many people are going to lose their job. These are innocent people who came to this country chasing the “American Dream” but really it has all been a nightmare. These are hard working people looking to have a better opportunity. They work hard to bring food to their tables and keep a roof above their heads. They should be able to work in the US.

Oppression in my community is seen in the lack of resources I have access to. Walking down my block, I see the same thing everyday. I see the same apartment buildings that look like they survive one too many earthquakes, I see men sitting on the pavement with sadness in their eyes, I see kids playing on the street with sticks and stones because they don’t have toys, and I see women pushing shopping carts with homemade food to sell in hopes that they make enough money to pay for rent, bills, and food. Some of the things I don’t see in my community are hospitals, schools, clinics, and parks. My first impression was that my mayor and my representative didn’t have enough money to provide the resources my community needs. I realized that I was wrong, the only reason why I don’t have the resources I need is because the color of my skin is not white. On the other side of town, rich people live their lives without the stress poor people have everyday. The rich don’t have to worry about anything because their community consists of hospitals, schools, clean parks, etc. I was sad to see that we don’t have any of those resources. The lack of resources in my community feels like a punishment for being a minority. For so long, the people in my community have been wearing a mask to hide the torment we go face everyday. I think its time that we receive the resources we deserve. The working class can’t be neglected anymore. We come to this country because we believe in the lie we are continually fed: “This is the land of opportunity.” So far the only opportunities we’ve had are having low paying jobs, a small place to live, and attending schools that look more like prisons. I can’t no longer sit with my arms crossed, waiting for something miraculous end oppression. It’s time that we all come together and remove the mask that has hidden our identity. We all need unite and fight against the oppressor. Only then we’ll have the opportunities that we always hear about.