By Jesse Jose
A Cup O' Kapeng Barako
I had a story all written up
for my column; I was all set to push "send" to LOLO Bobby Reyes, the
editor/publisher of my column, when the letter below popped up on my
computer. I quickly scanned it ... then it caught my full
attention. I slowed down to read it carefully.
After reading it, I said to
myself: "I'll send this first. This letter must take precedence in my
column this week. It's a story related to the present-day border crisis
in Texas, where illegals from Central America were crossing freely in
droves.
This letter is also story about immigrants, but those of
yesteryears, who also came to America, en masse, through Ellis Island.
It's a story comparing these immigrants to today's immigrants pouring
in illegally into this country through its borders.
Here's the letter, Dear Readers:
For
some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when
arguing against supporting the currently proposed immigration revisions.
This lady made the argument pretty simple. NOT printed in the Orange
County Paper ... Newspapers
simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem
politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the
philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great
letter to the editor that should have been published; but, with your
help, it will get published via cyberspace.
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 alongside 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 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
PS: I sincerely hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!
Dear
Readers: Thank you for reading this letter, which was forwarded to
me by Brother (Knights of Columbus) Charlie Andaya, who is also one
among my several prolific cyberspace friends. In incorporating this
letter into my column, thousands more would be able to read it. Please
pass it on, so thousands more could read it, too.
That's all. JJ # # #
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