Page 12
January 31, 2018
New Prices
Effective
April 1, 2017
O PINION
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$50.00
A small distance/travel
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or more
$30.00 each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$50.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services) : $30.00
Area/Oriental Rugs:
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool) :
$40.00 Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area:
$10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $69.00
Loveseat: $49.00
Sectional: $109 - $139
Chair or Recliner:
$25.00 - $49.00
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services) : $5.00
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
SEE CURRENT FLYER
FOR ADDITIONAL
PRICES & SERVICES
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
Influenced by a Narrow- Minded World View
Trump’s slander
misrepresents
America
m arC h. m orial
President Donald
Trump’s timing could
not have been more
ironic-or revealing. On
the eve of the eighth
anniversary of the Jan.
12 earthquake that devastated the
island nation of Haiti and the start
of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holi-
day weekend, President Trump sat
in a bipartisan meeting on immi-
gration reform and publicly ques-
tioned why the United States -- a
nation founded and built by immi-
grants -- should continue to accept
immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador
and Africa. With a slur heard round
the world, President Trump is quot-
ed to have uttered an obscenity to
describe those countries-and Haiti,
in particular.
This would not be the first time
Haiti has been on the receiving
end of President Trump’s ridicule
and contempt. Only weeks be-
fore, it was reported that during
an earlier cabinet meeting on im-
migration, the president allegedly
by
complained that immigrants from
Nigeria would “never go back to
their huts,” and that people com-
ing from Haiti “all have AIDS.”
And despite then-candi-
date Trump’s pledge at a Mi-
ami rally to be the “greatest
champion” of Haitian peo-
ple, the Trump administra-
tion has given 60,000 Hai-
tians living in this country
under temporary protected
status-granted after Haiti’s
catastrophic 2010 earthquake-un-
til July 2019 to leave or be deport-
ed.
The slur is reprehensible and
deeply disappointing, but it is not
surprising. It lives in a universe
of targeted travel bans with dis-
criminatory religious preferences,
a candidacy kicked off slandering
Mexicans, sympathizing with white
supremacists, attacks on protesting
Black athletes, and so on. The re-
ported obscenity is, quite frankly, in
keeping with past and current sen-
timents the president has expressed
publically and via proxy through his
administration’s policies.
The true obscenity is that our na-
tion’s president is shaping immigra-
tion policy, not based on purported
American ideals of inclusiveness,
but based on the demonization of
countries that are primarily Black
or Brown; not based on facts, but
by stoking fear; and not based on
knowledge, but influenced by a nar-
row-minded worldview.
Haiti is not a slur. It is the
first Black republic in the world.
It is the second oldest indepen-
dent nation in the Western hemi-
sphere after the United States.
Haiti achieved its independence
by launching the only successful
slave revolt in history. But Haiti’s
fight did not end on the battlefield.
It moved to the global arena where
external forces would punish and
destabilize the young island na-
tion for claiming its freedom, re-
sulting in lasting economic and
political turmoil.
France forced Haiti to pay more
than $20 billion in today’s dollars
as reparations for losing a profit-
able slave colony-drowning Haiti
in debt. The United States, which
provided aid to the French to help
stop the rebellion, subjected Haiti
to a crippling economic embargo
until it recognized its indepen-
dence in 1862. Over the years the
United States would go on to in-
vade and occupy Haiti, as well as
play an oversized role in its poli-
tics and elections.
Nonetheless, Haiti is deeply
woven into the fabric of Ameri-
ca’s history and founding. Hai-
tians fought in the Revolutionary
War. The city of Chicago was
founded by a Haitian immigrant
from St. Marc. Haitian music, art
and food transformed and shaped
the city of New Orleans. And the
Haitian slave rebellion was direct-
ly responsible for the Louisiana
Purchase, which doubled the size
of the United States.
As a citizen who believes
Trump’s slander is inconsistent
with who we should aspire to
be, I abhor the president’s mis-
representation of America. As a
former mayor of New Orleans, a
city richly cultivated by the pres-
ence of Haitians, I am distressed
by the president’s miseducation
of the valuable contributions of
Haitian immigrants. As the proud
descendant of a family who emi-
grated from Haiti in 1805, I will
always challenge the president’s
wrong-headed assumption that
immigrants are the living embod-
iment of the flaws and failures or
upheavals of their countries of
origin and cannot contribute posi-
tively in their adopted homes.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League.