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Excerpt from The New Colossus engraved on the Statue of Liberty in 1903;
" Give me your tired, poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shores
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me
I lift my lamp besides the golden door"
- Emma Lazarius 1883
Yes, give me those people so the great Robber Barons of Industry could make their money and grow their industries!!!
My great grandmother came to America from Poland all by herself b/c she was told "there were streets of gold" and she would get rich quickly. Well, after spending her last penny to get here, she quickly found out that was a lie and she was left penniless and did not know a soul. She was shipped to Detroit (major center for industry) So, what did she do? She got to work. She learned English. She forced her children to learn English. All this without free health care, food stamps and social security.
Social benefits and the economic maturity of our country is very different than it was 130 years ago. The notion that we should just accept anybody and everybody that is tired, poor, and homeless b/c 100+ years ago Andrew Carnegie and crew needed cheap labor to power his factories is silly IMO.
A nation should first and foremost do what is in the interest of its citizens. I do believe we still would benefit from certain immigration but we do not benefit from an unfettered open border which we seemingly have now.
Yes, give me those people so the great Robber Barons of Industry could make their money and grow their industries!!!
My great grandmother came to America from Poland all by herself b/c she was told "there were streets of gold" and she would get rich quickly. Well, after spending her last penny to get here, she quickly found out that was a lie and she was left penniless and did not know a soul. She was shipped to Detroit (major center for industry) So, what did she do? She got to work. She learned English. She forced her children to learn English. All this without free health care, food stamps and social security.
Social benefits and the economic maturity of our country is very different than it was 130 years ago. The notion that we should just accept anybody and everybody that is tired, poor, and homeless b/c 100+ years ago Andrew Carnegie and crew needed cheap labor to power his factories is silly IMO.
A nation should first and foremost do what is in the interest of its citizens. I do believe we still would benefit from certain immigration but we do not benefit from an unfettered open border which we seemingly have now.
also many black Americans have been here much longer than white Americans but under different circumstances, involuntary, but they should also be grateful to be here.
A lot of people hating immigrants forget that their families came from somewhere else too.
Who hates legal immigrants that are a benefit to our society and assimilate?
I don't need a DNA test. I'm happy with who I am now.
If I found out through some test that I wasn't all black, I'd still be the same person. So why take it?
Your choice.
I, for one, found it fascinating to learn fully as to what was in my background. For example, I was quite surprised to find that I had Scandinavian and Finland/Northwest Russian ancestry in the mix. Combined, it came to 10%. It was clearly from my Dad's side but neither he nor his sister have any idea as to how it got there In fact, they were both quite surprised to know that it was in their background.
As I get older, I am looking at life differently. One of the things I have thought about is fate. What if my great grandparents and grandparents had not made that decision decades ago to leave their homes and journey to America based on simply the hope that they would find a better life ?
My ancestors came from places like Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Wales. They came with nothing except pretty much the clothes on their backs and a little food in sacks to hold them over. They were not particularly welcomed with open arms, many had their surnames changed by the people at Ellis Island, to names that were maybe close to their own.
People, in general, did not want them here, they were called horrible names and shunned, but they worked hard, kept their noses clean, and raised their children to be Americans. Eventually, they proved they were no threat and people started to accept them more and more. Today, they are part of the American fabric.
People tend to forget that we ALL came here from some other country, unless you are Native American. How rude of us to now want to deny other people, from other countries, the same opportunities we all were afforded. I can not even begin to imagine what my life would be like if my ancestors didn't make that leap of faith and struggle to become Americans.
As much as we all fear the new people coming here from places like Syria, or Mexico, they are no different from my ancestors, and yours. Will there be some bad apples, sure. But most are no different from us and simply need a chance to prove themselves and build a better life for their families.
Think about where you would be living right now if your ancestors had not done exactly the same as mine. I know different scares us all, but we were all different at one time. In this election, we are hearing all kinds of unkind things about people coming to this country, I just felt it appropriate to point out our own histories and backgrounds.
Don
Unfortunately, it's a much different time than when your great grandparents came to America.
And they would be among the minority in this country so why even bring it up? Rednecks are usually southerners so you are saying that the majority of them are racists?
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In fact, they were both quite surprised to know that it was in their background.
