Yesterday the Washington Post ran an endless profile of an immigrant from Mali working two jobs in Atlanta. The author makes it sound like this guy cleaning the men’s room at the Atlanta airport should be ashamed of his job. And if he wasn’t before the Post piece came out, I’m sure he will after reading it.

The author makes a huge deal over the fact that this guy is black:

One day he’s scouring the men’s bathroom across from Gate A-19 when a black American walks up. The stranger looks at him and asks, as if to shake Adama awake, “Man, why do you work in here? This is nasty.”
It took Adama a while to figure out what the man meant, why he was so bothered.
Displayed under glass at the Atlanta airport is Martin Luther King Jr.’s preacher robe, his watch and his handwritten letters with words scratched out, the words begging for a new day to dawn.
Here it is almost 40 years later and a young black man is scrubbing toilets in the gateway to the South…..
He didn’t realize that his job emptying garbage cans was full of symbolism. It wouldn’t occur to him to be angry. He has no antenna for racial slights.

Oh no! A newly arrived, hardworking immigrant hasn’t bought into America’s racial baggage. What a tragedy. Perhaps we’d all be better off if African immigrants were handed a chip to put on their shoulder the moment they arrive. Look: Cleaning toilets is no great job, I think we can all agree. But, um, could the Post concede that someone does in fact need to clean toilets? If they have a better way to fill the jobs than with people eager for a new start in America, I’m all ears.