This story from Garden City, Kansas makes me wonder—-who is deciding the future for your meatpacking town, the citizens, or Tyson Foods?
I have a pretty large archive on Garden City which is one more heartland city that has been changed by the arrival of US State Department-planted third world refugee workers over the last decade or so.
The story leads me to believe that everything is not peace and love when diversity comes to town….
….and that Tyson Foods has a huge stake in keeping the immigrant worker supply train on the tracks!
From the Garden City Telegram:
Representatives from 10 of Garden City’s immigrant communities and six of its organizations and public entities met at St. Catherine Hospital Saturday for the first meeting of the Southwest Kansas Ethnic Empowerment Network.
The network is a reinvigoration of Tyson Fresh Foods Chaplain Jonathon Galia’s Coalition of Ethnic Minority Leaders of Southwest Kansas, which intended to bring together the leaders of Garden City’s immigrant and minority groups and connect them to resources that would help them succeed in the region. [Connect them to resources is code for getting them signed up for their welfare and other social service goodies.—ed]
Galia said the name of the original group, which he founded almost 10 years ago, unintentionally left out city and organization representatives. He said he hopes the new network brings together people from all areas of Garden City in a way that introduces, connects and aids minority groups in adapting to the community.
“There is a constant need for all of us as we continue to aspire for a homogenous community where we constantly experience a blend of culture, a blend of languages.
We see a need for an improved communication among the different peoples,” Galia said.
On Saturday, more than 20 people from a dozen different backgrounds sat in a square in one of St. Catherine’s classrooms, with laminated placards announcing the communities they represented. There were leaders of immigrants from Myanmar, El Salvador, the Ethiopian ethnic group Oromo, the Philippines, Somalia, Kenya, Vietnam, Sudan, Haiti and Eritrea. [By the way, Oromos and Somalis don’t always get along—ed]
[….]
Among them sat the network’s 2018 advisory board: Galia, Garden City Police Chief Michael Utz, City of Garden City Human Resources Director Allie Medina, St. Catherine Hospital Vice President Kayte Fulton, Catholic Agency for Migration and Refugee Services Director LeVita Rohlman, Tyson Human Resources Manager Barb Larsen and LiveWell Finney County Health Coalition Special Projects Consultant Troy Unruh, who came on behalf of Callie Dyer, the coalition’s executive director.
[….]
Minority group representatives introduced themselves and spoke briefly about the size and experience of their respective communities.
More here.
Do you have a meatpacking plant near you? If so, it is, and will be, the key factor in determining the future of your town.
See my Tyson Foods archive here.
Someone should write a book about how BIG MEAT is changing America by changing the people.