As this most anxiety-provoking presidential election campaign comes to a climax, we are here at our desks with our heads down, working against the weekly deadline on stories about affordable housing, forest fires, saving a church, wind energy, erosion, and Halloween. Dennis Minsky says that, whatever happens after the votes are counted, “we will continue to live within the confines of our protective blue bubbles.” But do we really live in a bubble?
If we do, it has not protected us from the rhetoric that has dominated the final weeks of the national campaign. And it’s hard not to replay the ugly words being spoken as we go through everyday life on the Outer Cape. I keep hearing them on the subject of immigration, which Donald Trump has talked about at virtually every opportunity.
Two weeks ago we published profiles of eight local voters, asking them what it was like to discuss politics this year with their families, friends, and co-workers. In that group, the person who was most excited about voting was Wellfleet’s Burchelle Edwards, an immigrant from Jamaica who became a U.S. citizen two years ago. “It’s a privilege to have a voice,” he said. He sees voting not just as a chance to express himself but also as an opportunity to carry out a civic obligation. “I want to make a choice that is not only good for me but also good for other people,” he said.
Edwards works hard. In his regular job at the Wellfleet Shellfish Company, he brings local seafood to market. He also devotes time to helping various residents (including Teresa and me) with the kinds of heavy outdoor chores like splitting wood that have become too difficult for us to manage on our own. He sends money back to Jamaica to support his family there.
That story is not unusual here. Much of the work in our economy is done by people from other lands. The story of bridging two worlds, of hard work and solidarity, is not very different from what my immigrant parents knew in New Jersey. But it bears no resemblance to the story that Trump has been telling his followers about immigrants who are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
How will the foreign workers upon whom our local economy, health, and welfare depend fare under a punitive and hate-filled administration? I think about the 22 J-1 visa holders who were crammed into two rooms in Eastham last summer but were too worried to talk about it. We have reported the experiences of other immigrant workers here who are victims of abusive landlords, unresponsive local cops, and an incompetent district attorney.
The tales about roving gangs of migrant rapists and murderers aren’t true, but the poison those stories spread is real. Even if Trump loses, his relentless repetition of lies about immigrants has darkened the horizon for many people who should be part of the future of a more optimistic country. The storm of words will have its effect, and a blue bubble will not protect us.
