Public Please

For those of us who travel up and down Ponce de Leon Ave. in Atlanta Georgia, past the City Hall East, and in front of the Home Depot, the daily sightings of day laborers is all too familiar and all too uncomfortable. Richard Fausset recounts his interactions with these workers and the underlying racial dynamics at play. In a nutshell, company people in pickup trucks pick up these workers, often preferring Hispanic workers over African-American workers, and pay them for several hours worth of work. What is striking is that many of these workers are in violation of the law, either by illegally residing in the U.S. or by not keeping tabs with their parole officers, and they are doing so in front of city hall, directly across the street from the police department. The companies who hire these workers are also often in violation of the law by hiring people with work visas.

This makes a mockery of the law. It indicates that either the laws are wrong or law enforcement is wrong. We should not have laws that we systematically do not enforce. We should either stop those who violate the law or redesign the law. City Hall and the Atlanta Police Department are demonstrating mercy through their neglect; they now need to demonstrate social justice through progressive legislation and law enforcement.