Mr. Trump's purported comments about immigrants from 'shithole' countries immigrating to the United States really hit a nerve with me. My paternal grandparents came to the US (pre-World War l from Poland) to escape the horror of war. The relatives who were left behind suffered unimaginable suffering which was later repeated with World War ll. When my grandparents immigrated to this country, they too were looked upon as 'shithole' immigrants. They were viewed as too stupid to hold any intelligent job and too backward to assimilate. To this day, Polish jokes abound in spite of them having one of the highest literacy rates in Europe, higher than even the United States. But stereotypes die hard; it is easy to cling to bias and prejudice.
Because I was quite young when my grandparents died, I only have vague memories of them. The only thing I know is that they came here to escape persecution and wanted their progeny to have a better life. They could have not have envisioned how their brave choice to emigrate allowed their descendants to flourish. They were often derided as 'DPs' aka, dumb Pollacks. Their foreign language, different culture, and choice to live within their local Polish community reinforced preconceived ideas about them. This stereotype continues today, but now that we have Africans, Asians, and people of Hispanic descent (mainly people of color), the Caucasian Poles are not as big of a target. Color, not culture, has replaced the worn out stereotypes of what Mr. Trump and many in our country fear. Their foreign languages, cultures, and tendency to live in their own communities make them a target of prejudice as much as the Irish, Italians, and Poles were more than a hundred years ago.
My grandparents did not live to see what their lineage produced: an incredible list of highly intelligent professional people who have contributed to our society. They would have been proud to know their courageous journey to find a better life in this country produced such accomplished progeny.
BTW: I am in good company. "A quick glance at Wikipedia's list of Polish people demonstrates the stereotype as false. Poland has produced notable minds in such diverse areas of knowledge as Astronomy (Nicolaus Copernicus), Chemistry (Marie Curie), Music (Frédéric Chopin and Henryk Górecki), Literature (Stanisław Lem), Religion (Karol Józef Wojtyla AKA Pope John Paul II), and Politics (Lech Wałęsa). A deeper look into that list reveals a number of highly intelligent Polish people who are less well known." -Wikipedia
The other half of my family is the coveted group Mr. Trump would like to see immigrate (I am also Irish, French, and Scandinavian). Basically in Mr. Trump's world, white people are good, people of color are bad. It is time for this to change. The change starts with us as individuals.
We have forgotten we are a nation of immigrants. We have lost touch with why our forebearers originally came to this country. We forget that all people want a better life for their children. I do not know what the solution is to our immigration problem but I know it is not castigating them for wanting what my grandparents wanted for me.
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