1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Everybody, it's Bill Courtney Shop Talk number eighteen headed your 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: way in just a few minutes. We're going to talk 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: about a hot button issue, but maybe with a little 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,959 Speaker 1: twist on it. We're going to talk immigration as it 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,760 Speaker 1: pertains to carpet right after these brief messages from our 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: general sponsors. Everybody, Immigration, Boy? Are we arguing about that 7 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: right now? And let's be clear. I think the vast 8 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: majority of people, regardless of where they fall on the 9 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: immigration issue, really what we're talking about is illegal immigration. 10 00:00:55,640 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: I haven't found anybody that's anti immigration, but how we 11 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: handle the southern border has become basically a political football, 12 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: and I don't want to get into the politics of it. 13 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:16,039 Speaker 1: I really don't, because I'm going to be just really 14 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: candid here. I do think the Biden administration has largely 15 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: failed on the immigration issue. But I also believe the 16 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: Trump administration failed. I believe the Bush administration failed. I 17 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: believe the Obama administration failed. I think we've been failing 18 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: on the immigration issue for two or more decades and 19 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: probably even longer. So this conversation is not about the 20 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: political football. It's about the humanity. I've really hesitated to 21 00:01:55,440 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: even do this because I understand why it's such a 22 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: hot topic, and I also understand that an open border 23 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: can lead to all kinds of problems. And I'm happily 24 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:12,639 Speaker 1: readily to admit that if you don't have a secure 25 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:14,919 Speaker 1: border and you don't know who's coming into your country, 26 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: you can have all kinds of issues. I'm also hoping 27 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: the same people that say that understand that human beings 28 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: that just want a better life still deserve an opportunity 29 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: at that life. And we have a thing called the 30 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty that it proclaims that our republic welcomes 31 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: the tired, the hungry, and the huddled masses. And our 32 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: strength is our diversity. And throughout our time we have 33 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: had different groups of people from different areas of the 34 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: world dominate the immigration question. At one time it was 35 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:06,799 Speaker 1: the Irish, and other times it was Italians. Today it 36 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: seems to be Hispanics. We can talk about the issue 37 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: in political, open, reasonable policy discussions and argue that, but 38 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: I'm not here to do that. What I'm here to 39 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: talk about is the humanity of it. What does that 40 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,799 Speaker 1: have to do with carpet Well you may know this, 41 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: but Georgia is the carpet capital of the world. In fact, 42 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: by the turn of the twenty first century, four countries 43 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: controlled more than eighty percent of the market for carpet 44 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: being made in the United States, and all four of 45 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: those companies were based in Georgia, in and around the 46 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: area of Dalton, Georgia. Now Dalton, Georgia is as southern 47 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: southeastern kind of as you get. We're not talking about 48 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: a booming metropolis here, but we are talking about an 49 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: area that makes a lot of carpet. And the leading 50 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:17,919 Speaker 1: carpet maker, their Shaw Industries, has been owned and led 51 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: by this small businessman you might want have heard of, 52 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: might have heard of for his name's Warren Buffett. It's 53 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: got this company called Berkshire Hathaway. They're holding company probably 54 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: the most famous investor in the carpet business in the world, 55 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: and as such invested in Dalton, Georgia. What's important to 56 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: understand is is that the carpet industry had a serious 57 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: labor problem back in the eighties into the nineties. In fact, 58 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: manufacturers believe that the labor shortage threatened the existence of 59 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 1: the carpet industry, especially in Georgia, and so while trying 60 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: to figure out what to do about this labor shortage. 61 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: They recognized back then that hey, there's all this Hispanic 62 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: labor looking for good jobs. And so Dawnton, Georgia invited 63 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:23,160 Speaker 1: Hispanic labor to its area to man the carpet mills 64 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: because it was such a massive part of the socioeconomics 65 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 1: of that area of Georgia. And when they did, Hispanic 66 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: workers came, many of them illegal immigrants. They started moving 67 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: in large numbers. By two thousand, Georgia, the Darton Area 68 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:51,160 Speaker 1: school district was Latino students were Prior to two thousand, 69 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: Latino students were only four percent of the school's total population. 70 00:05:55,279 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 1: By nineteen ninety five, that numbered increased to eleven one 71 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,039 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy eight students, representing twenty seven percent of 72 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: the school's total population. And by two thousand and two, 73 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: Dalton Public schools number twenty nine eighty seven twenty nine 74 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,799 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty seven Hispanic kids representing fifty five percent 75 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: of the student population. Now some would say, oh, my goodness, 76 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: the Latino community is taking over the Dalton school system. Yeah, 77 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:29,920 Speaker 1: and Dalton invited them because their largest industry was faltering 78 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: without them so much that according to Textile World, magazine. 79 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: Mill owners said the Hispanic workers were the saviors of 80 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: the industry and it allowed the mills to remain in 81 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: Dalton and keep labor costs in check. And the truth is, 82 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,919 Speaker 1: the people in Dalton are other than the Hispanic labors 83 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: wouldn't take those jobs anyway. So the point was, we 84 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:05,920 Speaker 1: invited the Hispanic labor here to take jobs that people 85 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: from that area wouldn't take. To the point that the 86 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: owners and we're talking about large companies here, Shaw Industries 87 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: owned by Berkshire Hathaway said that the Hispanic workers were 88 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: quote the saviors of the industry. Without them, that industry 89 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: probably would have gone overseas. These do not seem like 90 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: people that we should vilify, yet we do so. Around 91 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: that time, in early two thousands, they started noticing a problem, 92 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: which is assimilation. The Hispanic kids were struggling in school, 93 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: the parents were struggling with their kids, the communities around 94 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: the schools were starting to struggle, and it was because 95 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 1: largely Hispanic speaking kids going to American schools being taught 96 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: by teachers who didn't speak Spanish, and it caused a problem. 97 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: And there is where we start having these problems with 98 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: immigration and assimilation. Because we have two cultures colliding, one 99 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: inviting the other, the other happily coming so that they 100 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: could make better lives for themselves. Yet a cultural and 101 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 1: communal issue that becomes contentious, and of course, the opportunity 102 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: to vilify the Hispanics was there instead in this area 103 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 1: of the world. An interesting idea came up, and that 104 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: interesting idea was brought forth by a United States congressman 105 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: at the time, who was a World War II veteran 106 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: by all counts of purposes, A very other gentlemen always 107 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:07,559 Speaker 1: wore seersucker suits or alex what are those suits called? 108 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: Not seersuckers, but they're linen, white linen suits. I mean, 109 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:16,679 Speaker 1: you can imagine Southern congressmen in seersucker suits and white 110 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: linen and the hat running around. And he went to 111 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: visit schools and he noticed the enormous amount of Hispanic 112 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: students in the schools. And then he talked to the teachers, 113 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: and he talked to the people in the community, and 114 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:32,680 Speaker 1: the found out that there was this assimilation problem. And 115 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: instead of vilifying the Hispanic people, he went to him 116 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: and found out what's the problem. Well, the parents couldn't 117 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:45,079 Speaker 1: speak English, the kids were having a hard time speaking English, 118 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:47,360 Speaker 1: the teachers were having a hard time reaching them, and 119 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,679 Speaker 1: so as a result, there was a disconnect and there 120 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: were behavioral issues and all of that. Instead of saying, well, 121 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 1: we got to deport them, we got to he weighed 122 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: the truths, and the truths were this massive industry had 123 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: to have labor. That industry thusly invited labor to that 124 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,840 Speaker 1: area of the world, and then the systems once the 125 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: people got to that area of the world weren't set 126 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: up to allow them to simulate. So Irwin Mitchell came 127 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: up with the Georgia Project. What the Georgia Project did, interestingly, 128 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: was he was introduced to a guy by Well, the 129 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:32,800 Speaker 1: owner of Shaw Industries. The president of Shaw had a 130 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 1: relationship with a professor at the University of Monterey in Mexico. 131 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: George Shaw introduced Congressman Mitchell to this guy in Monterey 132 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: and they came up with a plan and it became 133 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: the Georgia Project. And what that plan was is they 134 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: brought Hispanic teachers from Monterey into Dalton to help the 135 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:03,960 Speaker 1: kids start to learn English, and then they sent teachers 136 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: from the Dalton County school systems to a one month 137 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 1: intensive program during the summers to learn Spanish and Spanish 138 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: and Hispanic culture down to the universe of Monarey and 139 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,600 Speaker 1: brought them back to school with that with that knowledge. 140 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:27,000 Speaker 1: So what happened was the Hispanic speeching speaking students started 141 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,959 Speaker 1: speaking better English as a result of the Monterey teachers 142 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: coming up and helping them, and the American teachers from 143 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: Dalton started speaking a little bit of Spanish at least 144 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: understood it and understood culture where these kids from. And 145 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: they were able to start actually teaching the kids. And 146 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:47,520 Speaker 1: the most amazing thing happened, they started to assimilate. Not 147 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: only did the teacher exchange help improve grades and education, 148 00:11:55,880 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: the Latino children attending Doctor's public schools started improved behavior. 149 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: They started getting involved in student government, they started getting 150 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:11,440 Speaker 1: involved playing sports, they started getting involved in the key club, 151 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: they started getting involved in all kinds of stuff. And 152 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 1: here we are twenty years later, and Dalton, Georgia, of 153 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 1: all places, because of the carpet industry needing labor, and 154 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,440 Speaker 1: the labor finding their way to Dalton and instead of 155 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: villainizing one another, finding a way to work together. Now 156 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 1: there is this robust community of Hispanics and non Hispanics 157 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: living and working in Dalton and having their schools and 158 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: their children those schools be successful as a result of 159 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: finding common ground as normal people, recognizing the humanity and 160 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: the need for one another, and working out a way 161 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:08,960 Speaker 1: to come together. The solution of the Georgia Project is 162 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: the answer, normal people recognizing the humanity in each other, 163 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,840 Speaker 1: regardless of where they came from, recognizing their need for 164 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: one another, and coming up with solutions to make it work, 165 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: rather than to separating to their corners, vilifying one another, 166 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: and tearing one another apart. After its initial success, the 167 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: Georgia Project continued to expand and develop programs for the 168 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: Latino children of Northwest Georgia. It continues. The Georgia Project 169 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:49,440 Speaker 1: continues to serve as a successful model a binational and 170 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: multi cultural cooperation, inspiring educators and community leaders throughout the 171 00:13:55,360 --> 00:14:00,720 Speaker 1: United States. All born from a guy named Irwin Mitche, 172 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: a congressman from the South, a Southern gentleman, seeing the 173 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: need for these kids to simply get an education, and 174 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:14,680 Speaker 1: fully believing that if we could figure out how to 175 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: get them an education and get them assimilated, that beautiful 176 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,440 Speaker 1: things could happen. And today in Dalton, Georgia, the carpet 177 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: industry continues robustly. The labor in and around that area 178 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: continues to be born, largely by Hispanic workers, but they 179 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: don't have nearly the cultural strife that many of the 180 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 1: other areas of the world do. With this one simple 181 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: solution of immigration, which is working together and serving one 182 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: another so that everybody can get what they need. I 183 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: think it's a beautiful example of what our answer to 184 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: the immigration issue is. Yeah, we got to secure boarders, 185 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,680 Speaker 1: I agree with that, but we also need to remember 186 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:07,560 Speaker 1: that we're dealing with human beings and that there are 187 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: answers that normal people can come up with to serve 188 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: one another so that we all benefit from the beauty 189 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: of the American dream. If we simply put aside all 190 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: the preconceived notions, we ignore all the narratives coming out 191 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 1: of DC in New York designed to divide us, and 192 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: we see common sense, normal people driven solutions so that 193 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: everybody wins. That's shop Talk number eighteen. I hope you'll 194 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: think about it the next time you hear one side 195 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: of the others complain about immigration and understand there are 196 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: always workable solutions, but they come from normal folks serving 197 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: one another. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week.