The 14th amendment to the Constitution serves many purposes. One of which was to overturn the Dred Scott decision, which stated the child of slave parents could not be considered a citizen of the United States. The 14th amendment was a major step in African-American history although it by no means solved the problems the members of that race would face in America it was a strong opening shot in the next century of African-American struggle.
Today I find the GOP has voiced and gained some support in the repeal of the amendment in an attempt of forcing tougher enforcement on illegal aliens. The Dred Scott question has been reworded to ask, “Should the children of illegal aliens born in the U.S. be considered a citizen of the U.S.? “ Obviously there was nothing legal about the presence of the African-Americans. They were kidnap victims detained against their will. Illegal aliens are here by their own choice, but I find myself asking what choices do they have in their home countries? That’s not a bleeding heart question to ask one’s self. I cannot place myself in their shoes; I have adequate shelter, medical care, food for my family and clothes for my back. Maybe if those facts were not facts at all, I would be willing to risk anything to get to a land where I could find work that would supply all those things for my family. I would be willing to take jobs no one else wanted and work 3 or 4 of them at a time to scratch out an existence.
I also received a chained email today from someone that wants me to chain it along. The email contains a supposed letter to the editor about illegal immigration today comparing it to virtues and good of the old Ellis Island brand of immigrant. The letter was not published according the chain starter due to the liberal leanings of the paper. It goes on to rant of the current immigrants’ lack of integration into American society. How they hold to the flags, music and native tongues of their former countries and refuse to learn English and assimilate to our way of life. Not like the Ellis Island groups whom did not look for a handout from the government and in times of war did go back and fight for their homelands, but proudly fought for America as Americans.
The letter leaves out the fact the Ellis Island groups were just as maligned and mistrusted as many of today’s groups. It does not say anything about the first major group the Irish living in dire poverty in the major cities or in some of the most untenable land throughout Appalachia making due on the jobs no one else wanted, or the more highly skilled Germans that lived in a step better conditions, but along with the Irish was attacked politically and physically including in famed riots in my home city of Louisville for being Catholic. It does not bring up the speeches of Teddy Roosevelt brow beating the hyphenated Americans who “have to be all American as there is no such thing as a half American.” Meaning you are an American live and speak the way we do or leave.
The letter also fails to state the three major groups of immigrants that “fought for America as Americans.” Italians, Poles, and Jews dominated by far the groups of immigrants into America prior to the Great War (WWI). Maybe if the author of the letter had looked at history they would realize the Italians shared a body of land, but not nationality as at that point Italy was still a loose confederation of states and not a unified country. Many of the immigrants came from the poorest regions. At the turn of the last century New York was home to more Italians then Rome. It is said that a common Italian dialect was learned amongst the immigrants for the first time, and in truth they became Italian first and Italian-American next. The Poles were in essence refugees. Poland had been carved into three different sections by three different empires. Russia, Prussia(Northern Germany), and Austria. At the outbreak of the war many Polish immigrants returned to Europe to join independent forces fighting to free Poland in the Blue Army and in Haller’s Army. The Jews had not had a true homeland for 2000 years and found themselves victims of many of the governments of Europe and readily joined the American cause to go home and right some wrongs. The letter does not say anything about the purveying attitudes of most Americans at the time that the conflict was a foreign one and one we should avoid. There was a swift return to American isolationism afterwards. It says nothing about the current numbers of Latin and Filipino volunteers fighting for America in Iraq and Afghanistan to gain citizenship. What I was most shocked by was the letter was sent to me by someone I love and respect. Someone born of marriage of a true immigrant and a first generation American born of Polish immigrants should not be so quick to aid in slamming the door on the rest of the world.
Both sides of my family fought in the Revolutionary War and as far as I know every conflict since, I am the descendent of nobility and indentured servants. My families therefore were parts of the first wave of illegal aliens. We showed up staked our claims and pushed the indigenous to our outer edges. That is my heritage. I cannot support the repeal of the 14th amendment, the idiocy in Arizona or the arguments of people who use economics and immigration to support racism.I am a citizen by the virtue of survival of the first illegal aliens.
