When I was growing up I remember the school curriculum emphasizing that the United States is “a nation of immigrants.” Clearly this is true, with the possible exception of native Americans (some of whom archeologists suggest may have traveled here themselves, thousands of years before the Europeans first came). Many American citizens, including many non-Latinos, are the children, or grandchildren of immigrants, and many of those illegal immigrants. One of my grandparents, now long dead, came here illegally to flee the Nazis.
The public mind does not normally think now about illegal immigration and continued illegal status of groups like the Irish or Polish. Illegal immigrants may be your family or your neighbors - or their forebearers.
I am staying home today in solidarity with Americans, and those who live here and so desperately seek to join us. They have made our nation, and they are a compliment to it.
Comments 1
It is lunchtime, so I took a break and went out on the office roof. People are streaming off the “L” and up the ramp to Loomis Street walking north to Union Park. The buses are packed and the air is filled with excitement. Six or seven helicopters are hovering over the area, bringing you streaming video over the Internet. It looks like the march is ready to step off for Grant Park.
I made my routine trip down to the convenience store a few blocks away. The drivers were very impatient and running redlights or not looking for pedestrians. Some are on a routine trip for business and inconvenienced by the march. Others are frantically looking for somewhere to park, so they can join the march.
Posted 01 May 2006 at 6:57 pm ¶On the street, families with young children were headed off to the march. Teenagers and children waving American flags dot the landscape, looking for a chance to live the American Dream.
Post a Comment