I've written about this several times but Catholic Charities and the Episcopalians brought a lot of Somalis to my complex seemingly overnight back in 2005. It was Hell. The smell of stewing goat tripe in the hallway, the women who had never seen a modern stove, accidentally setting fires at least once and sometimes twice a week, families who had never seen modern plumbing before and kept flooding the bathroom and damaging the washing machines. I once got on an elevator and the man already on it retreated to a corner and looked like a Vulcan going through Ponn Farr. I was on my way to work. I am a librarian. My hair, hands and legs should not have reduced anyone in the Western world to a quivering mass.
Stuff like this ruined the quiet enjoyment that tenants in any building, much less an expensive one, have a right to and drove many of my long time neighbors out. One neighbor couldn't take it anymore and went back to West Virginia, another loaded up moving truck and made the trek to Florida. Still another neighbor retired and bought himself an RV. He went to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and was so happy to be leaving. This wasn't just snooty white people if anyone is thinking that. The Ethiopian family that lived next door to me and the cool Ghanaian couple down the hall, wished me well and moved out at the end of the first month. There were so many complaints that most of the immigrants/refugees were resettled elsewhere but it took so long that many people couldn't wait.
Things settled down but damage was done to the complex and the residents who toughed it out and refused to leave our home. It all came back me with memories as strong as carrion on a Summer day, when I read the most recent item on Complicit Clergy. The good folks at that site wrote about a self righteous post on Twitter made by some PR person at Catholic Charities and the furious responses to it. One woman woman commented thusly and boy oh boy, do I understand what she's talking about :
@americancatass: Your human trafficking operation ruined our lives for 2 years. We had to spend $2500 to break our lease to flee from our apartment of 6 years because you filled it with illegals. You are traitors to the American people and I hope your “charity” is bankrupted.
Posts
