We
are a nation of immigrants. Research shows that even the native tribes are immigrants.
All of us are descended from people who had to leave their homelands for
various reasons. It’s not clear why all the migration to the Americas occurred—some
from climate change, some from religious persecution, some for lust of wealth,
some from innovation, and some through coercion and force. What we have brought
to this land is the best and worst from wherever we came and we have collected
it here on a foundation of ideals and a belief in opportunity. Many have been
fortunate to find those opportunities while others have been consistently
denied.
I
love that we have cultural bounty all around us even in the little rural town
where I live. If I drive a few miles to the north I’m on the Coeur d’Alene Indian
Reservation. A few miles south I am in one of two land grant university towns
where (in healthier times) I can mingle with people of African, Asian,
European, South and Central American, and Middle Eastern Cultures. I am aware
that this is unique of such a rural area and that many of us are pocketed into
regions of our own cultural identities or separated from those cultural
identities. But it only takes a little effort to get out and see the various
shades of America available for all of us.
Currently
immigration into the US is a problem because so many people want to come here
to escape the violence and unrest in their own countries. They want to come
here for all of the same reasons that our ancestors came here. Right now, we
have an elected government that is far less welcoming than previous governments
have been, though it would certainly be unfair to characterize any of our
governments as welcoming beyond certain selective predispositions. Right now,
what we are doing to prospective immigrants on our southern border is inhumane
and needs to change but that will not happen until we change governments at the
election. When justice does not prevail, we must fight back and I have been
known to do that often simply by voicing my opinion, peacefully protesting when
necessary, and voting.
As
a nation of immigrants and as the son of a long line of immigrants and as a Christian
I believe in the humanity of all and I want to do all I can to promote that. So
even though I am sheltering in place I will continue to support the variety of
cultural identities that make up the fabric of this nation through my custom,
through my profession and through my voice. I believe in the immigrant and the
promise of our nation. There is no reason to have a statue in our most
frequented harbor that says, “Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The
wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost
to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” if we don’t believe it.
We
just celebrated our 244th birthday as a nation and now we are reckoning
with a dark history that is over four hundred years old and continues to blot
our existence. We must continue to grapple with that and rectify the wrongs
while accepting the huddled masses to the shores of liberty. I know I am an
idealist, but, again, as a son of immigrants and a proponent of compassion, I
love this nation of immigrants and I hold to every ideal of liberty that goes along
with it.
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