Long Burn

The land of opportunity

I was talking with a taxi driver a while back. He was from Iran and he asked me where I was from. The US I replied, Minnesota. I said I had known a guy from Iran (at Macalester), Reza, that he was a chiropractor now and was making a lot of money. This guy told me that he was educated as an engineer, but that after spending five years looking for an engineering job in Sweden he had given up. In Sweden, middle eastern immigrants drive cabs, or make pizzas or kebabs, or collect unemployment, that's it.

The US has made a tremendous amount of progress in promoting equal rights and educating people about discrimination. Its not perfect, that's true, but some fights have been fought and won. That's not the case here.

posted by Matt_J @ 9:56 AM