I have written in this blog before about e-mails people send around that are considered urban myths and, when sent and resent to hundreds of recipients, clog up the Internet unnecessarily. What follows is another legend (so says Snopes.com, the best known debunker of urban myths) that expresses the age-old, and UNTRUE adage that the immigrants of the past were hard-working, patriotic people as opposed to "modern-day" immigrants who want everything for nothing and don't want to learn English.
Here's the e-mail:
New Immigrants
From: "David LaBonte"
My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet.
Pass it along if you feel so inclined.
Dave LaBonte (signed)
Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:
Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.
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 good bye 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 or 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 in 2006 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.
And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
(signed) Rosemary LaBonte
P. S. Pass this on to everyone you know!!!
KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING!!
I hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!!
Ever onward!!
MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA
If you go to Snopes.com you'll find the e-mail and an explanation of its origins.
It's about time that the e-mail is stopped (I sent the Snopes link to the person who sent the e-mail to me) and that the idea that in the past immigrants were much more acceptable than the immigrants of today.
Our immigrants today are exactly the same as immigrants of the past. They are hard-working, patriotic people. They send their kids to public school where they learn English. They send money back to their families in other countries but so did Italian, Irish, German immigrants of decades ago.
What the Snopes.com article doesn't say is that MOST immigrants of yesterday AND today are glad to be in America. They change their names (first names) to recognizable, pronounceable American names. Their children often move out of the enclaves and assimilate into the greater society. Most are law-abiding and don't take advantage of welfare. MOST try very hard to speak English. Most are accommodating, friendly and eager to help.
Photo: The immigrants statue in Battery Park
theteach
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