Remember I said to you that there are five things we need. One was quality. second was technology. third is entrepreneurial free enterprise. and the fourth values. the basic values of the American people. and the concepts that McCormick talks about. And remember who he dedicated his book to. because I think it is so profound. "To the American people. and especially our hardworking new immigrants who are reteaching the lessons that made our country great." Now I have to say that I became a radical on this topic about 1979 or 1980 when I went to a meeting in Clayton County. GA. about Laotian immigrants. And the meeting. I was told by my staff. was about problems we are having with the Laotian immigrants. We had the largest population of Laotians in the Southeast. And I went there expecting it to be a -meeting about racism. and people mad about welfare recipients. and all of the things you sort of associate with going to these kinds of meetings. and I found the opposite story. What I was told was the following. that the Laotian people who came to America were so grateful for being free. they were so excited that we had saved them from communism. they were so honored that their new country was adopting them. that they were honest. they were hardworking. they had strong extended families. they required their children to go to school. they insisted that they do their homework. they did not drink. they paid their rent on time. and they did not destroy their apartment. The result was not that we had a problem in public housing of discrimination against Laotians. the result was we had a problem in public housing because in every housing project the managers wanted to get them in before any Americans. black. white. any Americans. because they were better tenants. And I thought to myself what has happened to America if the greatest danger an immigrant faces is that they will be trapped in our welfare system. learn to drop out of school. learn to have children at 12. learn not to get married. learn not to study. learn not to expect anything. learn to wait for the food stamps. and learn to be in a situation where they have no future except violence. and hopelessness. and drug addiction. And the fact was that if two twins arrived from a foreign country. and one went straight into a bad job at a low wage. and had to work at two or three Jobs a week in order to make ends meet. and the other went directly into public housing and got on welfare. the odds statistically were overwhelming that the person who was going to succeed was the person who went into the bad job. at the low wage. and never got into public housing. and never got on food stamps. And I began to say to myself what does this tell you about what has happened to America.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization that Laotians are honest, hardworking, have strong families, require children to go to school, don't drink, pay rent on time, and don't destroy their apartments.