OPINION

An Open Letter to the Manager of Home Depot (Athens, GA)

I am profoundly disappointed and embarrassed by your shortsightedness, your cultural insensitivity, and your lack of entrepreneurial vision when you opted to join those who threw the Oconee County cops at the people who regularly offer their services as day laborers at or near the HOME DEPOT parking lot in Athens ("31 seeking day labor arrested...", Athens Banner-Herald, Dec. 2, 2005).

I was sorely mistaken in assuming that the position of Manager at a reputed institution like HOME DEPOT would be filled with personnel endowed not only with managerial skills, but also with qualities of leadership and moral integrity. Indeed, your actions against these workers not only color your thinking with parochialism and prejudice, but they suggest lack of moral strength to stand up against the narrow-mindedness of a few customers who panic when they see someone with dark skin, someone "different." These alleged "loiterers" are merely people willing to sacrifice for their families. They are young men who have opted to break their backs working to make an honest living, instead of stealing or killing. I find it shortsighted that in your capacity as manager you seem to ignore the close relationship between these workers and the actual consumption and application of the many products you display on your shelves.

Tonight, while you sit at the table surrounded by your family in the comforts of your home, you ought to spend a minute or two reflecting on the impact of your actions. With a telephone call to the police you have wiped out the efforts and sacrifices of thirty one young men whose only crime has been that of seeking food for their elderly parents, to feed their hungry young children, and to provide for their beloved spouses back at home. Had someone not made the error of putting people with your way of thinking in the position of manager, HOME DEPOT would not have made the strategic blunder of harassing those who contribute in a significant way to the economic success of the Orange Box itself.

Shame on you, Mr. or Ms. HOME DEPOT manager in Athens! I expected better from you in particular, and from this company in general. I have been not only a loyal customer of yours for a long time, but an admirer of the work ethic and the humanism in some of your employees. The shortsightedness displayed with your actions against these workers only underlines your hypocrisy, your ignorance, and the absurdity of fear felt by those who feel inclined to reject those who do not look or live like you. You have successfully destroyed some of the reasons for hope and happiness of the people you have affected negatively with your misguided decision. Unknowingly, I hope, you are also destroying the good image that HOME DEPOT has earned among many here and abroad. Yet, again, your misunderstanding of the complex nature of the phenomenon of immigration and your lack of historical knowledge about how this country came into existence could be the culprits of your little way of thinking. I forgive you for not understanding how much you could contribute to my image of the "Ugly American" in the eyes of the world. Yet I do not forgive you for your readiness to lie, and your willingness to misrepresent the truth when you claim that these laborers back up traffic in your parking lot. You could have come up with a less lame excuse to display your prejudice. You need to understand that it is not the traffic that makes a handful of your customers uncomfortable, but their insecurity and fear born out of ignorance. Instead you could have helped your customers calm down their paranoia triggered by absurd xenophobic ideas by simply ignoring them. It is too bad that HOME DEPOT wasted a good opportunity to display maturity of thinking and open-mindedness, rather than unhealthy ethnocentrism.

From your actions, I know that you could not care less, but you will no longer see me walking through the aisles of HOME DEPOT in Athens, enjoying the smell of wood, while looking for gadgets, tools, and ways to improve my home. It is not worth the risk of having fourteen police cars and vans converged to arrest day laborers (not "loiterers"), along with citizens who might happen to be on their way to the store, and who might "look Hispanic." According to Gene Langston, Oconee County Chief Deputy, the sheriff's office had no specific reason to start arresting the men in the parking lot Thursday. It is sad to realize that fear and prejudice are already clouding the thinking of our institutions. Fortunately, there is an alternative across the street for those of us who enjoy buying materials to repair and maintain our homes. It's called LOWE'S. Your decision to join the pool of victimizers of day laborers is repulsive, particularly because it comes from someone in a position of power at a company like HOME DEPOT. That's too bad!

Sincerely,
Hildebrando Ruiz
1030 Rosewood Trail
Watkinsville, GA 30677