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Small-Town Resistance Helped to Seal Defeat
Billy Ray Smith and his wife, Uraina, of Gainesville, Ga., said they moved out of their subdivision after it was "taken over" by Mexicans.
(By N.c. Aizenman -- The Washington Post)
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The poultry plants responded to the resulting labor shortage by welcoming workers from Mexico. Today, Hall County, of which Gainesville is the county seat, is more than 25 percent Latino, including both legal and illegal immigrants.
Max Crawford, 54, a plant production manager, estimates that 90 percent of the workers he supervises are Latino immigrants. Crawford, who asked that his company not be named because he is not authorized to speak for it, said he admires how hard Latinos work. But he is also unsettled by many of their customs, such as a tendency to throw toilet paper in the trash rather than in the toilet -- a common practice in areas of Latin America where commodes do not flush with sufficient force to handle paper.
"I mean, we actually had to show them a video explaining how you're supposed to put the toilet paper in the toilet," he said.
Crawford's friend Larry Davies, 54, shook his head in amazement.
The two were seated at one of the wooden tables at the Longstreet Cafe, the remnants of a fried chicken lunch on their plates. On one of the beige walls behind them hung a television monitor broadcasting the Fox News Channel. On another hung black-and-white photos of town landmarks destroyed by a tornado in 1936: a white-washed church; the old City Hall.
The packed restaurant seemed almost as much of a relic. It is one of the few gathering spots left in Gainesville where nearly every face is white.
Drive along the industrial strip just south of town, and you could almost be in Mexico. Pastel-colored signs identify the Tres Amigos launderette, the Flor de Jalisco grocery, the Mejor de Michoacan ice cream shop, the Casa Blanca party hall and the Iglesia Adventista del Septimo Dia.
The immigrant presence is just as noticeable in local schools. Some are as much as 70 percent Latino.
Perhaps most alarming to Crawford, however, has been the rise of Latino gangs -- not enough to cause a major spike in crime statistics but enough to keep police busy painting over graffiti on the medians and sound barriers along some roadways.
Crawford and Davies have been best buddies since their days at Gainesville High School, and there was a time when they mused that their children might go there as well.
"But not the way it is now," said Crawford, whose youngest daughter just completed her junior year at a county high school outside of Gainesville.
The restaurant's owner, Tim Bunch, 50, walked by and gave a friendly wave. Like several of his customers, Bunch is less concerned by the arrival of illegal immigrants to Gainesville than by the local reaction to them.
