To some degree or another, we are all immigrants. While our brothers and sisters of the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi may have been the first human settlers to this region, scientists assume that Native Americans migrated to this country millenniums ago across what was then a land bridge between Asia and Alaska. We all came later.
My ancestors on my father’s side came to this country first from England. My father’s mother’s side of the family arrived here not long after the first Puritans. My best guess is their reasons for arriving may have been economic as well as to practice a religion that was not favored by the religious authorities headed by the royals in England. The paternal side of my father’s family arrived in the States shortly after the Civil War. I suppose that their reason for migrating from a rural England to the States may have been economic.
It is a different story with the maternal side of my family. My maternal grandparents arrived in this country just before the outbreak of World War I. Their hometown is a rural village in what is now the Czech Republic, specifically the region of Moravia. That village is hours closer to Vienna, Austria than to Prague, the Czech capital. At the time of their arrival, the Czech Republic did not exist. Instead, Moravia was a small part of what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
I speculate that my maternal grandparents were refugees who fled Moravia for political, economic, and safety reasons. The “war to end all wars”, which of course did not, was started when the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. That empire had been in unstable decline for decades. World War I was the nail in its coffin.
My maternal grandparents arrived on Ellis Island with one of my uncles. My mother was the first born in this country. Originally, the family settled on a farm near Interlochen. During the depression, the family lost that farm when my grandfather contracted tuberculosis. He died before I was born. The family eventually moved to a farm in Saginaw County. I credit my grandmother with the fact that one of the few Czech words that I know is the word for grandmother. She died when I was a toddler. I am told that neither of my maternal grandparents learned to speak English. My mother conversed in Czech and English.
In my family’s history of immigration none of them had to wait years in line to come here legally. Those stories of immigration no doubt influence my own beliefs about immigrants today. But there are also other reasons that I am sympathetic . During a tour of duty with the Pacific Fleet of the Navy, I served with many Filipino sailors. During that service, I grew to appreciate the cultures of many countries my destroyer visited in the Pacific region. I believe that this verse from Matthew 25:35 also influences me: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
There are also practical reasons why I support immigrants. The United States is no longer the isolated island that it may have been as recently as World War II. International jet travel, intercontinental missiles, the telephone, and especially the Internet have shredded America’s isolation. To remain competitive in today’s world, it is important for Americans to understand and appreciate other cultures and languages. When I was in Japan, some private establishments had signs that said “Foreigners not allowed”. Our own country abandoned its history of “whites only” establishments not that long ago.
Which brings me to the reasons that I support the reintroduction of 2019-2020 Michigan House Bills 5192 and 5193. If passed, these bills would allow Michigan residents, including the undocumented, to obtain Michigan driver’s licenses or identification cards. A little more than a decade ago, such residents were allowed to purchase these licenses. Again, there are practical reasons for this. Pew Research estimates that 100,000 Michigan residents are undocumented. Allowing undocumented residents to purchase driver’s licenses would improve safety for all and benefit state revenues.
We can and should have a respectful, difficult debate about how many immigrants or refugees can enter this country. In the meantime, please let’s respect the dignity and contribution of those who have already arrived and in some cases been here for decades. Matthew 25 tells me that it is the right thing to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment