Yolanda Woodlee writes in The Washington Post, The Hunt for Work Fosters Tension:
Regina James says she drives past Rhode Island Plaza every weekday morning and has mixed feelings at the sight of more than 100 Latino men waiting for day-labor jobs in the Home Depot parking lot.
The increasing number of laborers, some of whom residents say leave trash on the ground and urinate along a nearby barrier wall, has heightened tension and stirred mistrust between the Latinos and the mostly black residents of the working-class Brentwood neighborhood in Northeast.
At the site, a woman with a green cooler sold tacos, burritos, hot chocolate and atol, a Salvadoran corn beverage. Three grocery carts overflowed with garbage bags nearby. The ground was littered with Styrofoam cups, beer bottles and paper plates, a point of contention with the neighbors.
It’s a “hotbed issue,” said William Shelton, an advisory neighborhood commissioner. “The African American community is a little concerned that if there had been 100 African American men standing on that lot . . . would we allow it for a year or two? Not to be negative, but the community just doesn’t understand.”
Charlotte Blair, 67, and her, husband, Thomas, 66, have lived in Brentwood since 1971. Although she said she’s never been harassed by the day laborers, Blair no longer walks alone.
“It’s kind of a scary situation,” Blair said. “Women walking up through there with a whole group of men. I just don’t feel comfortable. I would like to see the place cleared.”