In the year 1690 a sailing vessel bearing immigrants from Spain, attempted
to land its human cargo on the shores of what would one future day be Rhode Island.
The native Indian tribe, the Merrymacks, mobilized their militia. Armed with
writs of attainder, and bows and arrows, they apprehended the "illegals" and incarcerated them in a village of animal skins tents, known to the natives as
Guantanamera. Negotiations began for the deportation of the illegals during
which one of them proposed that, in exchange for cancelling the deportations the
illegals would agree to perform any unpleasant work the Indians themselves disdained. They also agreed to receive whatever amount of
Wampum the Indians would pay, and not divert the required tribute to the tribal chief.
The arrangement worked so well, the Indians grew lazy and selective about what
work they would perform. It became necessary to encourage increasing numbers of illegal immigrants to come to Rhode Island from the depressed and war torn areas of Europe. In time the supply of shells for Wampum ran out. The illegals insisted on
procreating causing a need for more animal skins to supply their shelter needs. This in turn increased the costs for the natives. Suddenly the illegals were a problem
not a resource. A rival chief came forward and proposed a ban on future immigrants, and rounding up and deporting those allready here. There arose a heated conflict
between the deportniks and the amnestniks threatening to split the tribe. The
deportniks were victorious and carried out their intent. The resulting collapse of the tribal infrastructure led to overflowing latrines, overgrown paths and collapsing bridges, uncollected garbage, leaking tents and run-a-way live stock.
The Merrymacks learned the hard way that they were part of an interconnected
world and could not survive and thrive in a Fortress Rhode Island.
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2 comments:
Fifty years ago I was on a business trip at the Naval Center in Newport, Rhode Island. It was apple harvest season, cold and windy.
The front page of the Newport News reported that many orchards employed unregistered apple pickers. The culprits immediately replaced these illegal workers with pure American union members.
The new legal pickers walked off the job two days later. “We are not going to swing all day on a ladder in a freezing wind for no amount of money. Bring back the ‘d..d’ Pollacks.”
Times have not changed. Men have always sought serfs, slaves, prisoners, children, women, immigrants and the like to do their dirty work.
Jacques
Wow, what a great storyteller you are!
It's so entertaining it's hard to believe it true but the moral still stands forth, a lesson we never seem to learn.
I wonder if things might have been different if the slaves had been issued insurance cards, not required to pay taxes and speak only their own language.
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