We must not allow a breakdown in communications with young MexicanAmericans. That route has been traveled with young Negroes and has engulfed the country in a crisis between races. a polarization that the Kerner Commission said is dividing the Nation into two societies. separate and unequal. The diversion of this Nations migrant workers from the mainstream of society has already occurred. and it certainly is separate and unequal. Many of the 1 million migrants are MexicanAmericans and their existence amounts to a daytoday fight for survival. Even that existence is now being threatened. Mechanization is taking over the farms. and even though thousands of migrant families still flock to the fields the demand for their labor is declining. In Wisconsin. one of the largest food processors completely shifted to machines on its 2.000 acres of pickle fields last year. Of the 5.100 picking jobs migrants held last year in Wisconsin. at least 1.000 have disappeared through mechanization. The Milwaukee Journal recently published an excellent series of articles on the MexicanAmericans. which made clear that the Wisconsinites who share this culture are undergoing the same ferment we see all across the country. The title of the Milwaukee Journal series was. "Viva la RazaLong Live the People." The author. Jo Sandin. reported: Led by a whole generation of young menarticulate. eloquent in English as well as Spanishthe former migrants and immigrants from Mexico and Puerto Rico are beginning to realize that poor housing. dead end jobs. and political powerlessness are not inevitable. Those in Wisconsin who are taking the leadership in seeking to help these disadvantaged people are learning an important lesson: MexicanAmericans want to make their own decisions and manage their own affairs. The spirit of paternalism and charity with which wellmeaning people approached disadvantaged groups in the past is no longer acceptable.
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immigrants migrants migrant