I am in Gulfport, Mississippi. Here to do a story for Marketplace on the deadline for Katrina homeless to be out of their trailers and free of state rent subsidies. It’s also about those who have participated in the recovery effort, and, through their experiences, have recovered themselves. I am drawn to this story because of my experiences in Thailand in January-February 2005. (A fuller description is at my “old blog” accessible through my web site www.billmarcus.us) A friend plays a key part in this drama here in Mississippi. I hope to tell her story in the Marketplace piece.
The 1300 mile car ride from New York State was an uneventful trip through 10 states and all their attendant NPR stations (there are a lot more in Alabama than anywhere else!) Passed the Mason-Dixon line, Gettysburg, Antietam and thinking I want to see more of those places on the way back. The Blue Ridge mountains are spectacular. Better to see them in the daytime, though.
Indians run all the discount gas stations along the way. Motels too, but that’s been going on a long while. White gas station owners, like a liquor store owner I met in Byram, Connecticut the day before I left, chafe at the competitiveness of “foreigners.” Were I to judge, I would ascribe xenophobia to these persons. But I am not a therapist, only a reporter.
I think the concept of “foreigners” is getting blurrer, especially in this globalization age. Historically, this is not the first time that globalization occured. The first time it took place I would say during Mongol conquest. The second time was Industrial Revolution. But what would this third wave of globalization lead us to ? a better prosperity or a bitter polarization, is yet to be determined .
Hi DJ,
Every country and tribe seems to have a word for he or she who is not “one of us.” Farang in Thai, gaijin in Japanese, waiguoren, lao wai, or guailo which literally translate to outside country person, old outsider and — my favorite — white ghost barbarian in Chinese (the last one is Cantonese) — “You not from around here, are you?” in the Southern U.S. where I am now. It’s important to be able to distinguish between those who are “us” and them who aint.
When Shanghainese strangers ask me in Mandarin “Ni shi na guo ren?” (You are what-country person?) I reply in Shanghainese “Ala Zahainee” (We are Shanghainese) and in their laugh I realize that I have made my point.
Thanks for your comment!
— Bill