Black People : I was a slave - nanny

panafrica

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Aug 24, 2002
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The Diaspora
A former nanny hit a Long Island couple yesterday with a federal lawsuit, claiming she was treated like a virtual slave and subjected to regular beatings and racial slurs. Cindy Carter, 31, portrayed Fontaine and Donald Sheridan as employers from hell, who paid her far below minimum wage for caring for their three children, and doing all the cooking and cleaning in their Massapequa Park home.

"Mrs. Sheridan would beat me and Mr. Sheridan would not do anything," Carter said yesterday at a news conference outside the midtown bank where Donald Sheridan works.

Carter, an undocumented immigrant from Barbados, claims she endured abuse for 2-1/2 years because Fontaine Sheridan threatened to have her deported if she complained. She was paid $300 a week.

In the lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, Carter outlines numerous incidents in which Fontaine Sheridan allegedly slapped her and spewed racial epithets.

She contends the abuse started shortly after she began working for the couple in December 2002, and continued until she quit over a violent encounter this summer that led to assault charges against Fontaine Sheridan.

Carter claims that on July 6, Fontaine Sheridan caused her "permanent injuries" when she pushed her down the steps of her home.

The charge was reduced to a noncriminal violation and Sheridan was ordered to complete 50 hours of community service, take an anger-management class and pay for Carter's medical expenses.

The Sheridans' lawyer, Vincent Ansanelli, called Carter's lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, unfounded. He insisted Fontaine Sheridan never used racial slurs when speaking to Carter, who he said was paid $500 a week.

Ansanelli denied Carter's abuse charges, claiming the nanny was provided with "a warm, loving household in which she participated fully."

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/364485p-310320c.html
 
I don't believe those were slave wages. The maltreatment is unheard of. This is ridiculous. Kind of reminds me of the rumor of when Malcolm X went to the pilgrimage, was welcomed to only the living rooms of the exquisite, but behind all of that: there were black slaves tied up like animals to trees, and fed from animal bowls. I hope this woman pieces her life back together, and be financially secured by this couple until she finds gainful employment elsewhere. Is this why so many couples seek illegal domestic workers...to bribe them into being modern-day slaves to their liking?
 
One of the things I noticed was that this woman, (a person of black heritage I assume), was an immigrant. Africans or African-Americans who support immigration reform (something that is pro-civil rights), would probably say that their efforts would help make it easier to provide asylum for this person... she doesn’t have to have her immigration status be held over her head. African/African American immigration lawyers and ESPECIALLY judges would help in this scenario.

However... a pro-black stance would be ardently against immigration reform, because (if I am correct in my interpretation of some of the members here), it competes with jobs for blacks. This stance may also say that working for such things is useless anyway because the system is automatically against blacks, and why work for people that don't like you?

How does one balance such views... what is the best approach in help ensuring the rights of African or Caribbean immigrants are protected? Do blacks in immigration work (who do exist by the way), go against black causes... because at some point they WILL have to do casework for other immigrants? Are they anti-black for sympathasizing/working for a non-black situation, because it's difficult not to in some cases. Where is the balance?

Again... this is not to force a perception someone doesn’t want on anyone, just to establish discussion.
 
soulsearcher said:
However... a pro-black stance would be ardently against immigration reform, because (if I am correct in my interpretation of some of the members here), it competes with jobs for blacks. This stance may also say that working for such things is useless anyway because the system is automatically against blacks, and why work for people that don't like you?

How does one balance such views... what is the best approach in help ensuring the rights of African or Caribbean immigrants are protected? Do blacks in immigration work (who do exist by the way), go against black causes... because at some point they WILL have to do casework for other immigrants? Are they anti-black for sympathasizing/working for a non-black situation? Where is the balance?

You are not correct in your interpretation soulsearcher. There are elements in black nationalism (especially panafricanism) which has long sought to build coalitions with all blacks in the Diaspora, these includes black immigrants coming to the US. How one would balance the difference between Black Immigrants and non-Black immigrants is to specify who you are fighting for. The temporary work visas that the Bush administration have recently proposed was target directly at Hispanics (specifically Mexicans). I think agencies need to be established to deal with African and Caribbean immigrants. Although both groups are immigrants, they don't face the same obstacles, and usually have different skills. Black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean are usually better educated, have more diverse skills, and are fluent in English when they arrive here....the same definately can not be said for Hispanics. Also many black immigrants coming to this country don't take jobs away from Americans. An example of that would be my wife. She came to the US from Spain almost 7 years ago. She was fluent in English upon arrival, and while she works in NYC...she does so for a Spanish company.
 
panafrica said:
You are not correct in your interpretation soulsearcher. There are elements in black nationalism (especially panafricanism) which has long sought to build coalitions with all blacks in the Diaspora, these includes black immigrants coming to the US. How one would balance the difference between Black Immigrants and non-Black immigrants is to specify who you are fighting for. The temporary work visas that the Bush administration have recently proposed was target directly at Hispanics (specifically Mexicans). I think agencies need to be established to deal with African and Caribbean immigrants. Although both groups are immigrants, they don't face the same obstacles, and usually have different skills. Black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean are usually better educated, have more diverse skills, and are fluent in English when they arrive here....the same definately can not be said for Hispanics. Also many black immigrants coming to this country don't take jobs away from Americans. An example of that would be my wife. She came to the US from Spain almost 7 years ago. She was fluent in English upon arrival, and while she works in NYC...she does so for a Spanish company.

I do not agree my opinion is incorrect... but you are entitled to your views.

Okay... you feel African immigrants have more skills than other groups. That's a fair argument. However, it does not change the fact that there are still situations where some (not all) Africans come here illegally, get 'caught' by DHS, and need a lawyer to represent them. This is irregardless of how educated or skilled they are. And neither does it change the fact that a black Judge might be partial to their situation, or a black lawyer is a better defender than a non-black one.

Black Immigration Judges and attorneys get an opportunity to defend/hear cases involving African immigrants. However, just because the way the system is set up, must hear/defend cases of non-blacks too (and Judges have less of a say in what to hear). Not everyone is fighting for temporary work visas... many are fighting for asylum. Are they anti-black if they sympathasize with some of the non-black situations they hear?
 

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