I am the son of an immigrant.
I am the husband of an immigrant.
I have an aunt and uncles who are immigrants.
My grandparents were immigrants.
My daughter is a mixed race child from a family of immigrants.
If you’re reading this in the United States, there’s a 98% + chance YOUR family is made up of immigrants, too.
Immigrants (mostly hopeful, often desperate, many forced) came and built this country into the world’s leading light.
Immigrants in this country helped start Google (Russia), AT&T (Scotland), Pfizer and Comcast (Germany), Du Pont and Ebay (France), Radio Shack and Colgate (England), Kohl’s (Poland), Yahoo! (Taiwan), Nordstrom (Sweden), Kraft and Sara Lee (Canada), Procter & Gamble (Ireland).
One of the world’s largest corporations, Apple, was co-founded by Steve Jobs. His father, like my step-grandfather, was from Syria.
One of America’s great filmmakers, Frank Capra, was born in Italy. One of America’s great baseball players, Joe DiMaggio, was the son of Italian immigrants. Amadeo Pietro Giannini was born in San Jose, California, to Italian immigrant parents. He founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco which eventually became the Bank of America.
One of the greatest tennis players ever was Pete Sampras, son of an immigrant Greek mother. The reigning NBA MVP is a Greek player born of Nigerian immigrants, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who plays in Milwaukee.
Three signers of the Declaration of Independence were born in Ireland. Over the past 60 years, Five American presidents had Irish blood flowing through their veins.
Names like Chavez, Huerta, Obama, La Follette, Du Bois, Einstein, Kennedy, La Guardia, Geisel, Terkel, Savitzky, Said, Warhol, and, yes, Omar all have stories to tell.
I could go on and on… pick a country… any country.
Many of these nations I have written about have been called “shithole” countries by the most ignorant among us.
Many of these immigrants have come to this country and took up the worst jobs imaginable, suffered the worst kinds of degradations, were called the worst things… and still built this country we call America. “Irish Need Not Apply.”“Whites Only.”
The waves of Vietnamese and Irish came for the same reasons… horrific conditions at home. The same reasons that brought the Italians, the Mexicans, Salvadorans, Cubans, and Chinese. The Catholics, the Jews, the Muslims. They all came for the same reasons.
I am a white man who embraces the diversity of our immigrant past
and feels shame about our current government.
When people are told to “Go back where you came from,” it’s a vile insult that must be answered. When it’s bleated out by the President of the United States it’s a monumental abomination.
It cannot stand. Either you respect your ancestors and their contributions to make America what it is, or you stand with a racist, serial-liar who is trying to drag America into the same slime pit he resides in. We should be much better than that. We need to stand with those who are attacked and speak out against those who defile what America should be. Silence is not an option.
I eagerly await a brighter future.
============================================
I know I don’t need to convince anyone here of my main point… but this is posted with the hope that it can be shared and convince others of the value and beauty of Immigrant America.
(A variation of this was also posted on Medium)