My father was born in Berlin and came to the United States as a 10-year-old, escaping Nazi Germany. I am a second-generation American and have always felt a great affinity for immigrants and the immigrant experience, whether it’s by choice or life-and-death necessity. I am deeply mindful of the genocidal violence toward Native Americans, the horrors of slavery that stripped people from their native lands, and the continuing confrontation with bigotry and fear each new wave of immigrants has faced as they became part of the American tapestry. But there is no doubt immigration is central to the American story and its evolution.
Battles at the border have been a polarizing force in recent years, raising questions about America’s desire to still be that country described in “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus and etched into the base of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
What do you think? Can and should America still be a welcoming country? And do you have an immigrant story to share?
Please remember this forum is meant to be a place for sharing ideas and experience, not engaging in personal attack. If you find value here, I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Yes, we are better because of immigration. Many of our best and brightest came from those who humbly sought refuge. I am a first-generation Russian Jew. Once proud of my country. Today I hesitate. I am sad, angry, ashamed and, disappointed because our label doesn't match our content. Power is leverage. Power is being misused to perpetuate and justify the existence of one of our biggest flaws- prejudice. I always knew we weren't perfect but I never realized we were this corrupt. Hardly a welcome mat.
America must restore our welcoming traditions. If we insist on a tribal mentality then we lose all moral authority and become just another country based on greed and lies without compassion; We disrespect our ancestors who came here for the American dream for themselves and their children.
I am also second generation American. My grandparents on both sides came here from Russia/Ukraine in the early 1900’s before the revolution. My grandmother described the journey from Ukraine in their shtetl out to a city and then onto the port and the ship. I can’t imagine what this is like even hearing her story. I don’t think I would come here today. The promise of 100 years ago is gone. We have reverted to racism, bigotry and violence. The violence here would also put me off of even visiting the US. It is very sad and we have to work hard to try to reverse this.
I am yet another first generation American on my father’s side. He came from a shtetl on the outskirts of Kiev. My mother’s mother came in the 1800’s from Austria. My in-laws family came from Poland. I have a son who thinks trump walks on water. The rest of the family is totally integrated.
My father's family came to this country from Sicily in 1921. His father and the four children began by working menial jobs in construction and eventually formed a successful family-owned a custom home building firm. They worked hard, yes, but they had the opportunity to work and grown and contribute. They were the SAME people that they were in Sicily...unfortunately, Sicily had few job opportunities. The children of these immigrants now include two doctors, five teachers, a college administrator, a minister, and their grandchildren have done equally well, all because they had the opportunity. (One grandson has formed a foundation that supplies water to Tanzania!) Who knows what today's immigrants could contribute?
Yes, America SHOULD still be a welcoming country. However, it is not, probably due to the pernicious, pervasive influence of right-wing media over the past 3-4 decades, and I don't see any recovery on the horizon. I would not come here today from another country. In fact I applied for an Irish passport some years ago (available due to my heritage) and am still considering leaving. Only inertia (plus age, spouse, and real estate) stands in the way. I often think about the many Jews who chose not to leave Germany, telling themselves it would all work out in the end, and wonder if I will end up regretting my decision-by-default to remain in the United States.
My father came here as a young teenager after the war in 1946 from Italy and learned English, worked hard and became an American citizen and met my mom. Served in the US Army during Korea. I wouldn’t be here if we weren’t a welcoming place.
Yes, because diversity was & will be our strength. My father came thru Ellis Island as a 6 year old; saw his first car in NYC and his first airplane at a county fair in Michigan. Who knew then he'd work for Henry Ford & Company designing both in different stints? Helped win WW2 & make the Pax Americana great also
I have ancestors who were here in colonial times and fought in the Continental Army and I have ancestors who arrived from Hamburg via ship in the 1860's. I have French and Irish ancestors who I can learn nothing about, but were no doubt poor. The link to them was a grandmother who was orphaned at an early age. All I know about her parents is that their last names were Baribault and Butler. I am proud of all the people in my background who decided to uproot themselves from all that was familiar to come here for a better life.
The looming issue that I see is the high possibility of climate refugees fleeing impossible conditions to come to temperate climates. Is our response to be to build a Berlin Wall-like structure to try to stop them?
Some of us say "walls" and some Mexicans say "tunnels."
We need a far-seeing, strategic approach, that alleviates terrible conditions in the countries the refugees are coming from, and that gives them hope that they will be able to forge a better life for themselves.
And, we need to recognize that if a person walks a thousand miles and risks his/her life to get here, they are showing the guts and determination to persist in spite of serious obstacles.
So, I believe in a generality: By and large, the refugees coming here are some of their best and brightest.
By the time a second or third generation of recent immigrant families comes around, they ARE American.
Especially if they learn English, they will have a leg up on native-born Americans like me who only have fluency in one language, one culture.
I certainly want future generations to be smarter, kinder, more cooperative, more resilient, than mine.
As I was reading everyone’s experiences of being a first, 2nd or more descendant of
immigrants it triggered a memory of mine.
It actually bothered me when I was growing up that I knew nothing about where my ancestors came from and we had no family rituals that would remind us of our ancestors lives, even though we have an extended family of cousins, 2nd cousins,
etc. all of whom grew up together. Any information about where we all came from was long gone.
Then several years ago Ancestry came along. We sent our DNA to Ancestry and waited to find out at long last where our ancestors came from. Some of the information was fairly predictable but some of it wasn’t. Our ancestors were a mix of northwestern European people with some Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry from our German ancestors.
We found out that we had an ancestor who came to America on the Mayflower and that he was the only person who actually fell off
the Mayflower and was rescued. We had ancestors who lived in Jamestown and Williamsburg, ancestors who fought on both sides of the civil war, ancestors who mined for gold & silver in the Rocky Mountains.
We have a 3rd great grandfather who mined for precious metals in Tombstone, partnered with Wyatt Earp on mining projects and lived next door to the Earp family in Tombstone. I found an excerpt from a letter written by one of my great, great aunts about how Wyatt Earp often helped her with her homework. We knew
nothing about any of this and I will be forever grateful to the people who wrote
about their lives or the lives of others
and the times in which they lived.
I guess you could say that I’m an activist in politics these days. At least I try to help people where & when I can. It was interesting that you brought up the Statue
of Liberty. I’ve been corresponding with
an organization of Dreamers for a while and the other day they emailed and asked me if I thought they would ever be accepted as Americans. I wrote back and said in my mind they are as American as I am. That they would be accepted because if we are anything, that’s who we are. We accept people from anywhere and I quoted the inscription on the statue of Liberty.
As a nation we are going through a terrible
time right now, but we’ve gone through similar times before and we’ll get through it
again. What I would like people to think about when talking about America, is that it isn’t just a place, it’s a state of mind.
Thank you all for these inspiring thoughts and sharing your personal histories. They give hope.
Yes, we are better because of immigration. Many of our best and brightest came from those who humbly sought refuge. I am a first-generation Russian Jew. Once proud of my country. Today I hesitate. I am sad, angry, ashamed and, disappointed because our label doesn't match our content. Power is leverage. Power is being misused to perpetuate and justify the existence of one of our biggest flaws- prejudice. I always knew we weren't perfect but I never realized we were this corrupt. Hardly a welcome mat.
America must restore our welcoming traditions. If we insist on a tribal mentality then we lose all moral authority and become just another country based on greed and lies without compassion; We disrespect our ancestors who came here for the American dream for themselves and their children.
Hate as a replacement for Unity is faux happiness
I am also second generation American. My grandparents on both sides came here from Russia/Ukraine in the early 1900’s before the revolution. My grandmother described the journey from Ukraine in their shtetl out to a city and then onto the port and the ship. I can’t imagine what this is like even hearing her story. I don’t think I would come here today. The promise of 100 years ago is gone. We have reverted to racism, bigotry and violence. The violence here would also put me off of even visiting the US. It is very sad and we have to work hard to try to reverse this.
I am yet another first generation American on my father’s side. He came from a shtetl on the outskirts of Kiev. My mother’s mother came in the 1800’s from Austria. My in-laws family came from Poland. I have a son who thinks trump walks on water. The rest of the family is totally integrated.
My father's family came to this country from Sicily in 1921. His father and the four children began by working menial jobs in construction and eventually formed a successful family-owned a custom home building firm. They worked hard, yes, but they had the opportunity to work and grown and contribute. They were the SAME people that they were in Sicily...unfortunately, Sicily had few job opportunities. The children of these immigrants now include two doctors, five teachers, a college administrator, a minister, and their grandchildren have done equally well, all because they had the opportunity. (One grandson has formed a foundation that supplies water to Tanzania!) Who knows what today's immigrants could contribute?
Yes, America SHOULD still be a welcoming country. However, it is not, probably due to the pernicious, pervasive influence of right-wing media over the past 3-4 decades, and I don't see any recovery on the horizon. I would not come here today from another country. In fact I applied for an Irish passport some years ago (available due to my heritage) and am still considering leaving. Only inertia (plus age, spouse, and real estate) stands in the way. I often think about the many Jews who chose not to leave Germany, telling themselves it would all work out in the end, and wonder if I will end up regretting my decision-by-default to remain in the United States.
My father came here as a young teenager after the war in 1946 from Italy and learned English, worked hard and became an American citizen and met my mom. Served in the US Army during Korea. I wouldn’t be here if we weren’t a welcoming place.
Yes, because diversity was & will be our strength. My father came thru Ellis Island as a 6 year old; saw his first car in NYC and his first airplane at a county fair in Michigan. Who knew then he'd work for Henry Ford & Company designing both in different stints? Helped win WW2 & make the Pax Americana great also
I have ancestors who were here in colonial times and fought in the Continental Army and I have ancestors who arrived from Hamburg via ship in the 1860's. I have French and Irish ancestors who I can learn nothing about, but were no doubt poor. The link to them was a grandmother who was orphaned at an early age. All I know about her parents is that their last names were Baribault and Butler. I am proud of all the people in my background who decided to uproot themselves from all that was familiar to come here for a better life.
The looming issue that I see is the high possibility of climate refugees fleeing impossible conditions to come to temperate climates. Is our response to be to build a Berlin Wall-like structure to try to stop them?
Some of us say "walls" and some Mexicans say "tunnels."
We need a far-seeing, strategic approach, that alleviates terrible conditions in the countries the refugees are coming from, and that gives them hope that they will be able to forge a better life for themselves.
And, we need to recognize that if a person walks a thousand miles and risks his/her life to get here, they are showing the guts and determination to persist in spite of serious obstacles.
So, I believe in a generality: By and large, the refugees coming here are some of their best and brightest.
By the time a second or third generation of recent immigrant families comes around, they ARE American.
Especially if they learn English, they will have a leg up on native-born Americans like me who only have fluency in one language, one culture.
I certainly want future generations to be smarter, kinder, more cooperative, more resilient, than mine.
As I was reading everyone’s experiences of being a first, 2nd or more descendant of
immigrants it triggered a memory of mine.
It actually bothered me when I was growing up that I knew nothing about where my ancestors came from and we had no family rituals that would remind us of our ancestors lives, even though we have an extended family of cousins, 2nd cousins,
etc. all of whom grew up together. Any information about where we all came from was long gone.
Then several years ago Ancestry came along. We sent our DNA to Ancestry and waited to find out at long last where our ancestors came from. Some of the information was fairly predictable but some of it wasn’t. Our ancestors were a mix of northwestern European people with some Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry from our German ancestors.
We found out that we had an ancestor who came to America on the Mayflower and that he was the only person who actually fell off
the Mayflower and was rescued. We had ancestors who lived in Jamestown and Williamsburg, ancestors who fought on both sides of the civil war, ancestors who mined for gold & silver in the Rocky Mountains.
We have a 3rd great grandfather who mined for precious metals in Tombstone, partnered with Wyatt Earp on mining projects and lived next door to the Earp family in Tombstone. I found an excerpt from a letter written by one of my great, great aunts about how Wyatt Earp often helped her with her homework. We knew
nothing about any of this and I will be forever grateful to the people who wrote
about their lives or the lives of others
and the times in which they lived.
I guess you could say that I’m an activist in politics these days. At least I try to help people where & when I can. It was interesting that you brought up the Statue
of Liberty. I’ve been corresponding with
an organization of Dreamers for a while and the other day they emailed and asked me if I thought they would ever be accepted as Americans. I wrote back and said in my mind they are as American as I am. That they would be accepted because if we are anything, that’s who we are. We accept people from anywhere and I quoted the inscription on the statue of Liberty.
As a nation we are going through a terrible
time right now, but we’ve gone through similar times before and we’ll get through it
again. What I would like people to think about when talking about America, is that it isn’t just a place, it’s a state of mind.
Ask the Native Americans about unchecked immigration.