Aliens in Our Midst
The hub-bub of yesterday’s “Day without Immigrants” started me thinking; and thinking; and thinking. There were three separate things that popped up – not necessarily related to one another.
First, there’s the idea that Immigrants are either good or bad. One of the Hispanic leaders of the march in California said that “they took California away from Mexico and now we’re taking it back.” Great! An uncivil war of words. Fire the first shot! Let’s get things started! Doesn’t anybody ever learn that you can’t right wrongs with more wrongs?
And, how far back do you want to go? If we want no immigrants, then most of us wouldn’t be here. The Mandan and the Sioux would have their lands back and the rest of us “light and dark folk” would be relegated to other places. Whether we came here of our own volition or not, we’re still immigrants. From the slave on board the ship from Africa to the indentured servants from Ireland and Scotland to the German militia left here by their country after the American Revolution, we all got here from somewhere else. But wait, let’s go back further and we’ll leave the landscape to the plants and animals because, after all, humans immigrated here from Asia all those millennia ago.
So let’s just “get over it” and move on. The real question is what to do to allow people to work here who may have been born in another country but who can provide service and meaning to the American way of life while at the same time keep controls on our borders to limit the prospects that dangerous people are entering into the states. Dangerous means not just terrorists but criminals of all sorts who seek their own benefit at the expense of others. (Come to think of it, there are more than a few who were born here that fit that description.) The point is, let’s figure it out – not scream and shout.
Second, there’s the International Labor recognition day. This great country recognizes those who labor in September. It’s a sort of “the harvest is over and now you can relax” sort of day. The rest of the world recognizes may 1 as the day to remember those who perform labor of all sorts. The irony is that the date is picked to remember those who died in Chicago attempting to fight for labor reforms in the late Nineteenth Century (http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/haymarket.html ). The Haymarket riots sparked the whole union effort but in order to suppress the union influence, the government chose another day to remember laborers.
Nonetheless, the rest of the world remembers laborers (and the Haymarket riots) on May 1. Since we no longer dance around the maypole, maybe the United States should show its solidarity with the rest of humanity and join the international community, recognizing May 1 as the date for labor support. Do you suppose that there it’s coincidence that the Immigration marches chose that date? I think not.
Third, I think about my dad. He’s here with a Green card. In an unforgivable turn of events, he is forever barred from being a United States citizen because he placed family above war; having spent the previous decade living in Germany as a youth during the war. There is no love of death and destruction in him. Remarkably, the antithesis of what nearly cost him and his family their lives now cost him citizenship. So, he’s an alien (and no, he does not have a cone shaped head). He’s an immigrant. He came to America after the war because it was, as it still is, a place where people can get ahead if they try. He is living proof of that. He is also living proof that no matter what a government tells you, you can still do what’s right. He did that in Germany during the war and he continues to do that in this country now.
Doing right means supporting your family and practicing tolerance and respect for others. Doing right means holding yourself accountable for your own actions as they affect others. And most of all, doing right means practicing your faith in peace with your fellow man every day – not just once a week. He represents the essence of what a good immigrant is. He represents a model for citizenship (if it could ever be granted). He presents hope for all who chose a place to live based on what it offers rather on who it keeps out.
So, as the day is now over I continue to think on these things and wonder what next year will bring. Will the United States be under siege? Will we be open to people looking for a better way of life like it’s written on the Statue of Liberty? Or, will be close our borders and our minds to the reality of the fact that “people” – not dirt with borders make a country.
First, there’s the idea that Immigrants are either good or bad. One of the Hispanic leaders of the march in California said that “they took California away from Mexico and now we’re taking it back.” Great! An uncivil war of words. Fire the first shot! Let’s get things started! Doesn’t anybody ever learn that you can’t right wrongs with more wrongs?
And, how far back do you want to go? If we want no immigrants, then most of us wouldn’t be here. The Mandan and the Sioux would have their lands back and the rest of us “light and dark folk” would be relegated to other places. Whether we came here of our own volition or not, we’re still immigrants. From the slave on board the ship from Africa to the indentured servants from Ireland and Scotland to the German militia left here by their country after the American Revolution, we all got here from somewhere else. But wait, let’s go back further and we’ll leave the landscape to the plants and animals because, after all, humans immigrated here from Asia all those millennia ago.
So let’s just “get over it” and move on. The real question is what to do to allow people to work here who may have been born in another country but who can provide service and meaning to the American way of life while at the same time keep controls on our borders to limit the prospects that dangerous people are entering into the states. Dangerous means not just terrorists but criminals of all sorts who seek their own benefit at the expense of others. (Come to think of it, there are more than a few who were born here that fit that description.) The point is, let’s figure it out – not scream and shout.
Second, there’s the International Labor recognition day. This great country recognizes those who labor in September. It’s a sort of “the harvest is over and now you can relax” sort of day. The rest of the world recognizes may 1 as the day to remember those who perform labor of all sorts. The irony is that the date is picked to remember those who died in Chicago attempting to fight for labor reforms in the late Nineteenth Century (http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/haymarket.html ). The Haymarket riots sparked the whole union effort but in order to suppress the union influence, the government chose another day to remember laborers.
Nonetheless, the rest of the world remembers laborers (and the Haymarket riots) on May 1. Since we no longer dance around the maypole, maybe the United States should show its solidarity with the rest of humanity and join the international community, recognizing May 1 as the date for labor support. Do you suppose that there it’s coincidence that the Immigration marches chose that date? I think not.
Third, I think about my dad. He’s here with a Green card. In an unforgivable turn of events, he is forever barred from being a United States citizen because he placed family above war; having spent the previous decade living in Germany as a youth during the war. There is no love of death and destruction in him. Remarkably, the antithesis of what nearly cost him and his family their lives now cost him citizenship. So, he’s an alien (and no, he does not have a cone shaped head). He’s an immigrant. He came to America after the war because it was, as it still is, a place where people can get ahead if they try. He is living proof of that. He is also living proof that no matter what a government tells you, you can still do what’s right. He did that in Germany during the war and he continues to do that in this country now.
Doing right means supporting your family and practicing tolerance and respect for others. Doing right means holding yourself accountable for your own actions as they affect others. And most of all, doing right means practicing your faith in peace with your fellow man every day – not just once a week. He represents the essence of what a good immigrant is. He represents a model for citizenship (if it could ever be granted). He presents hope for all who chose a place to live based on what it offers rather on who it keeps out.
So, as the day is now over I continue to think on these things and wonder what next year will bring. Will the United States be under siege? Will we be open to people looking for a better way of life like it’s written on the Statue of Liberty? Or, will be close our borders and our minds to the reality of the fact that “people” – not dirt with borders make a country.
posted by genebko at
11:35 AM
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