The Accidental American

by SEN, RINKUMAMDOUH, FEKKAK

• ISBN13: 9781576754382
• ISBN10: 1576754383
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781609943080
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-08
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Summary

The Accidental American vividly illustrates the challenges and contradictions of US immigration policy, and argues that, just as there is a free flow of capital in the world economy, there should be a free flow of labour.Author Rinku Sen alternates chapters telling the story of one "accidental American"--co-author Fekkak Mamdouh, a Morrocan-born waiter at a restaurant in the World Trade Center whose life was thrown into turmoil on 9/1--with a thorough critique of current immigration policy. Sen and Mamdouh describe how members of the largely immigrant food industry workforce managed to overcome divisions in the aftermath of 9/11 and form the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY) to fight for jobs and more equitable treatment. This extraordinary story serves to illuminate the racial, cultural and economic conflicts embedded in the current immigration debate and helps frame the argument for a more humane immigration and global labour system.

Author Biography

Rinku Sen is president and executive director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and the publisher of ColorLines magazine. She is the author of Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy.
Fekkak Mamdouh is cofounder of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York and codirector of the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, the country’s first national restaurant worker organization.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Coming to Citizenship in a Near-Global Age	p. 1
Leaving Home	p. 13
Us and Them After 9/11	p. 33
Crimmigration	p. 49
Learning to Organize	p. 69
Building a Cooperative Restaurant	p. 95
Scaling Up Throughout the Industry	p. 121
Framing the Immigration Debate	p. 139
Growing a Movement	p. 163
Dreaming Globally	p. 183
Everybody Means Everybody	p. 203
Notes	p. 223
Acknowledgments	p. 233
Index	p. 237
About the Authors	p. 247
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