De-Hyphenate America
“What are you?”
“Italian-American”
“Irish-American”
“Mexican-American”
“German-American”
“Polish-American”
”Indian-American”
“Swiss, Scottish, Welsh, Franco-American”
"Member of the Former Soviet Union-American"
“What are you?”
My grandparents came to this country in the 1880’s. They left a place where they were unwanted. Most probably they were terrorized by pogroms. They were second class citizens (if they were even considered citizens), economically downtrodden, socially ostracized, or all of the above.
I don’t know their exact motivation (the only grandparent I knew died 40 years ago. It was believed she was in her 80's when she passed on, but she was a young girl when she came to this country). I’m of the opinion that her parents didn’t pack up their family and sell or abandon all of the belongings they couldn't carry to walk away from a comfortable existence to go 5 or 6 thousand miles to a country they never saw because things were going well for them. This must have been especially true when you didn’t just get on a plane and cruise that distance in 8 to 10 hours. Also they didn’t take the Berlitz “Learn Conversational English in Five Easy Lessons" course. And when they got here, I'm fairly confident that most Americans living here at the time didn't want to see some poor, Jewish family move in next door to them and compete for whatever jobs were available at that time.
I believe most immigrants come to America come for similar reasons. A sort of desperate run to the promise of a better life. No guarantees, just a fair shot at a better life. We are a country populated almost exclusively by immigrants and descendants of immigrants, most likely brave and motivated people, tired of being poor, or of being abused, no longer tolerating their existence in intolerable conditions. They decided to take matters into their own hands and change their condition.
Inspirational!
America, a nation populated by people that I characterize as “intrepid dreamers” driven to these shores seeking freedom and opportunity.
Except for the slaves.
What are you?
“African-American”
In the most horrendous way, which I can’t even begin to imagine, much less describe, these people were dragged from their homes and families to be brought to America as property. With no regard for their humanity, or any family ties that may have survived or developed during the “relocation,” they are brought to do the “heavy lifting.” Bought, sold and treated as “beasts of burden”. And today many of their descendants suffer from the bigotry and inequality of opportunity that is similar to the conditions that likely caused the “intrepid dreamers” to pack up and emigrate to America.
All that being said, whatever brought our fore-bearers here, we are now all in the same boat, and the boat is being swamped with new “intrepid dreamers” that want in.
What are you?
“American Indian”
The indigenous people have no hyphen.
More to follow….
“Italian-American”
“Irish-American”
“Mexican-American”
“German-American”
“Polish-American”
”Indian-American”
“Swiss, Scottish, Welsh, Franco-American”
"Member of the Former Soviet Union-American"
“What are you?”
My grandparents came to this country in the 1880’s. They left a place where they were unwanted. Most probably they were terrorized by pogroms. They were second class citizens (if they were even considered citizens), economically downtrodden, socially ostracized, or all of the above.
I don’t know their exact motivation (the only grandparent I knew died 40 years ago. It was believed she was in her 80's when she passed on, but she was a young girl when she came to this country). I’m of the opinion that her parents didn’t pack up their family and sell or abandon all of the belongings they couldn't carry to walk away from a comfortable existence to go 5 or 6 thousand miles to a country they never saw because things were going well for them. This must have been especially true when you didn’t just get on a plane and cruise that distance in 8 to 10 hours. Also they didn’t take the Berlitz “Learn Conversational English in Five Easy Lessons" course. And when they got here, I'm fairly confident that most Americans living here at the time didn't want to see some poor, Jewish family move in next door to them and compete for whatever jobs were available at that time.
I believe most immigrants come to America come for similar reasons. A sort of desperate run to the promise of a better life. No guarantees, just a fair shot at a better life. We are a country populated almost exclusively by immigrants and descendants of immigrants, most likely brave and motivated people, tired of being poor, or of being abused, no longer tolerating their existence in intolerable conditions. They decided to take matters into their own hands and change their condition.
Inspirational!
America, a nation populated by people that I characterize as “intrepid dreamers” driven to these shores seeking freedom and opportunity.
Except for the slaves.
What are you?
“African-American”
In the most horrendous way, which I can’t even begin to imagine, much less describe, these people were dragged from their homes and families to be brought to America as property. With no regard for their humanity, or any family ties that may have survived or developed during the “relocation,” they are brought to do the “heavy lifting.” Bought, sold and treated as “beasts of burden”. And today many of their descendants suffer from the bigotry and inequality of opportunity that is similar to the conditions that likely caused the “intrepid dreamers” to pack up and emigrate to America.
All that being said, whatever brought our fore-bearers here, we are now all in the same boat, and the boat is being swamped with new “intrepid dreamers” that want in.
What are you?
“American Indian”
The indigenous people have no hyphen.
More to follow….
posted by lawber @ 9:30 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
well said, we are all immigrants, which is why yesterday's protests didn't really make sense to me.
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