In a recent letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, someone named David Ferris wrote
Unfortunately, during the 2000-05 recovery, immigrants – both legal and illegal – got the jobs that should have gone to the youngest and poorest Americans. If we don’t make every effort to ensure that any jobs created go to our own people, we’ll be looking at another “jobless recovery.”
Hate to break the news to you, Mr. Ferris, but legal immigrants are Americans. I am the son of immigrants, and they are both full US citizens who work, vote, pay taxes, and donate to charities. I guess Mr. Ferris imagines he himself is not a descendant of immigrants…
Indeed, I seem to remember from high school that immigrants (the current Americans) chased all the real Americans away.
Well remember what happened when the indigenous people let others immigrate.
Perhaps Mr. Ferris is of Native American stock?
Anyway, may every one have a prosperous and peaceful 2010. =)
Immigrants or not Immigrants , they are all humans who speak , eat , drink and breathe , the only difference would be how were they in life , good or bad.
I hate to break it to you, but 17,000 years ago there were no people in North or South America. Everyone living here today is an immigrant or the children of immigrants. Now can we all start getting along?
Hmn. Well, let’s agree, human beings are the most invasive of species, and the more northern EuroAmericans are probably the most invasive of them all (even more than the Iberians…). In short, we won, and therein hangs a tale.
It’s also interesting that this should have started with a guy in San Francisco. The Left Coast has always had a problem with folks from someplace else. After Northeast types were (grudgingly) allowing that even the Irish (papist! O, dear!) might be human (“negroes” had more advocacy, earlier), the folks along the Pacific were scared of The Yellow Peril. The most scared seem to have been, hmn, Irish…. The main fear: Those kinky Chinese and Japanese were smart and hard-working and really competitive, and pretty soon they’d displace the Natural Rulers of Things.
Most interesting of all, it seems it wasn’t the Jingoes who were the most extreme in this. It was Colonel later Presdient Roosevelt integrated San Francisco schools, e.g.. On the one hand, the notion of the superiority of mostly northern, EuroAmerican culture (especially AngloSaxon culture; the French were OK, but the Germans presented certain difficulties, as e.g., Imperial Germany was far too friendly toward Jews…) was absolute, but those who played by the rules of that game could join the club (consider the resolution of the Russo-Japanese war). On the other hand, immigrants who became 100 percent Americans, not hyphenated Americans, were welcome.
In short, old-fashioned Progressive thinking could trump prejudice. But save us from the Liberals!