Coal mining isn’t a career most of us consider when pondering what we want to do for a living. Apparently even children of miners, once the heirs apparent to the vocation, aren’t considering it anymore either. Enter Latino immigrants:

The local mine company here, Sidney Coal Co., is seeking to change Kentucky mining legislation so it can hire non-English-speaking Latino workers.

Kentucky law requires that miners be fluent in English for safety reasons, but Sidney Coal, a subsidiary of Massey Energy Inc., has claimed that it cannot find enough local workers.

And, of course, debate:

Many eastern Kentucky miners worry that bringing non-English-speaking Latinos underground would force them to accept lower wages and lead to a decline in mine safety…

“I wouldn’t want my son working with a bunch of Hispanics who couldn’t understand him,” said Mullins, who was huddled next to a gas heater in the local Citgo gas station, smoking Marlboro cigarettes. “It’s dangerous enough down there.”

This is another one of those situations in which lines are blurred and emotions run high. If 33% of the local mining community in this region lives below the poverty line, who would want to see them lose their only source of income? But at the same time, this closed mentality of “us and them” only makes for a breeding ground for racism and xenophobia. The ironic thing is that coal mining is a traditionally immigrant industry.

Via / LA Times