Maybe we
should turn to our history books and
point out
to people like Mr. Lujan why today's
American is
not willing to accept this new kind of
immigrant
any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a
rush
from all areas of Europe to come to the
United
States, people had to get
off a ship and stand in a long line in
New
York and be
documented.
Some
would even get down on their hands and
knees and
kiss the ground. They made a pledge to
uphold
the laws and support their new country
in good
and bad times. They made learning
English a
primary rule in their new American
households
and some even changed their names to
blend in
with their new home.
They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.
Most of
their children came of age when World
War II
broke out. My father fought along side
men whose
parents had come straight over from
Germany,
Italy,
France and
Japan.
None of these 1st generation Americans
ever gave
any thought about what country their
parents had
come from. They were Americans fighting
Hitler,
Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They
were
defending the United States of
America as one
people.
When we
liberated France,
no one in those villages were looking
for the
French American, the German American or
the
Irish American. The people of
France
saw only Americans. And we carried one
flag that
represented one country. Not one of
those
immigrant sons would have thought about
picking
up another country's flag and waving it
to
represent who they were. It would have
been a
disgrace to their parents who had
sacrificed so
much to be here. These immigrants truly
knew
what it meant to be an American. They
stirred
the melting pot into one red, white and
blue
bowl.
And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.