May God Save Texas!

Homesick in America by Wayne Allensworth

The last time we had been in Houston, arranging for the move, we talked to a little Indian man who was working at a truck-rental outlet. He said he had previously worked as a welfare inspector, so I asked what he had inspected, and he told us: He was supposed to investigate Medicaid and food-stamp fraud.

I nodded at him. Is that so?

Yes, it’s so—as a matter of fact, that’s all there was. Fraud, he meant. His supervisor told him he was investigating far too much. He was told not to look so closely. As a matter of plain fact, he was told, don’t really look at all. Since he was an honest man, he quit. And he landed at the truck-rental place, where he said another guy who worked there—a young guy, also from India, according to the little man—only wanted to work so many hours a week, not too much.

Is that so?

It’s so—it’s because he wants to keep up his qualification for food stamps. The little man nodded knowingly, raised his eyebrows, and said, “And you know who is paying for that, yes?” and we both said, yes, we know. And he nodded knowingly again. I heard a police siren in the distance.

As we walked out, without feeling any personal hostility for that particular little Indian man, I thought that, as praiseworthy as his attitude was, an American could be holding down the job he had. According to “conservatives” of a certain persuasion, he’s probably a better “American” than a lot of real Americans, since he’s “hard working” (he will work for less), and he’s for “welfare reform,” and, anyway, he’s not white, so there, we “true conservatives” are not “racists,” which is the worst thing anyone can be or be accused of, which is the same thing.