How Mexicans saved a dying US town

[Judi Lynn]

Guymon in Oklahoma was on its way to becoming a ghost town.

Then Mexican immigrants arrived 20 years ago after a food processing plant opened.

Since then, they've been responsible for an economic boom.

Video by Angélica M Casas, produced by Luis Fajardo

15 Dec 2019

Video at link:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-50785443/how-mexicans-saved-a-dying-us-town

[LuckyLib]

1. It's happening all across the country. Now Trumpster

wants local communities to vote on their racist feelings toward immigrants. Many don’t have a clue.

[TlalocW]

2. Many white people don't realize how truly American this story is

But their ancestors came over from Europe - some of them not speaking the language and never learning it. They worked the hard jobs that no one else wanted because they wanted a better life for their future generations - them.

Several years ago, I lived in the east side of Tulsa, which didn't attract or keep a lot of businesses until it got an influx of Mexican immigrants. It was not uncommon to one day see a taco truck, and then a year later, a new Mexican restaurant with the same name that was on the truck. An old bowling alley was turned into a large Mexican mini-mall. Small Mexican bakeries popped up, and then a giant one opened. Being a gringo with a degree in Spanish, I thought it was great. I never got to travel much, but going to that min-mall was pretty damn close to going to some of the mercados I visited in Mexico City. I got introduced into the community twisting balloons at the arcade in the bowling alley-turned-mall and was the "payaso" that a lot of families hired because I could do a magic show in Spanish. Literally 80% of my business when I started taking magic and balloon twisting more seriously than just being a side gig came from Spanish-speaking families. I literally wouldn't be where I am now without immigrants.

TlalocW

[angstlessk]

3. Cool story..new news is always good to read. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

4. Important first-hand comment from an authentic human citizen, and it's wonderful.

You show how people born with a soul respond to others who matter. Your decision to learn Spanish and where it led you has touched the lives of far more people than you'll ever know, and helped make this country far more like home to so many newcomers, new U.S. Americans.

Will remember your personal comments concerning someone coming to his/her higher senses and being a realized human in his own lifetime. Deeply moving.

By the way, it's so appreciated to encourage us by showing us a window into a place where the human level transformation is happening, for those of us who've never seen peaceful, spiritually strong people in action.