The Trouble with Immigration

Most of us in this country today cannot claim descendence from pilgrims on the Mayflower. We did not come with the British or the Spanish, and even fewer of us are descended from the natives who lived on this land before white people took it away from them. We are the children of immigrants. Had our great grandparents not come across the Atlantic 150 years ago, we would not be settled, middle class, white Americans.

My grandmother grew up in Patterson, NJ, in a community bustling with immigrants. She herself lived with her Scottish grandparents and had friends whose parents were Italian and spoke no English. Immigrants today are no different from those who came to this country in the Nineteenth century except on two key points. Many of those who rushed to our shores during the 1800's came from Anglisized countries, like Ireland and Scotland, and already spoke English, albeit with a brogue. They did not have to learn English. Many of those who came from Italy and Poland did not learn English, but started businesses within their communities where they knew their customers from the Old Country. Also importantly, Italians, Poles, Scots and Irish are all white (even though they faced racism as well. The Irish were repeatedly portrayed as monkeys in political cartoons of the time).

When immigration critics blare about how their grandparents came to this country and learned the language, I feel compelled to voice a dissident opinion: that is not necessarily true. It was their children who mastered the language. My boyfriend's great grandmother was Polish and spoke very little English. Her children, born on American soil, speak it as their first language. This is the generation, first generation Americans, that is the closest we come to our own immigrant past. Our collective memory has conveniently forgotten that the white immigrants of 150 years ago did not learn English, since their children, fluent in English, are here to tell us their stories.

Latino and Hispanic immigrants face many challenges today. Besides the language barrier which is reshaping our country into one that encourages citizens to be bilingual (and this is a bad thing why?), Hispanics are not white. Although a veil of political correctness covers America, racism and xenophobia still lie beneath. If uprooting yourself from the community of your grandparents isn't enough, facing adversity in the place you choose to call home is truly adding insult to injury. People immigrate because they want to be happy. They want to have opportunities. They want to be successful. If that isn't the American dream, I don't know what is.