Anti-immigrant sentiment
My mom just forwarded an editorial which has been circulating the net and touted as appearing "in a Tampa newspaper." Apparently it did actually appear in a Georgia newspaper as one of the comments in the link above testifies, so it was a legitimately published editorial (and may have been reprinted in a Tampa newspaper). Anyway, I got infuriated that my mom tacitly seems to agree with this crap, as her forward seems to indicate. So, I ended up writing a rather lengthy response on why this editorial was just plain wrong. Considering that it sums up my feelings about America's anti-immigrant sentiments and religious intolerance, I thought it would maybe be worthwhile to share it. Feel free to read it or not.
Mamo
Do not forward me this kind of anti-immigrant, religiously-superior,
self-centered filth. The author of the editorial may profess that he
welcomes immigrants into the country, but he clearly doesn't. My big,
BIG issue with this editorial is the whole portion where he talks
about God being a part of the culture. He specifically and clearly
states that he is talking about the Christian God. The founders of
this country came here because they were being religiously persecuted.
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland and Utah (to name a few) were all
states founded by people who felt religious differences significant
enough to merit them moving to a new portion of the country to have
greater religious freedom. In the Bill of Rights, it is very clearly
stated:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
In other words, no religion gets special treatment in this country and
no religion gets suppressed either. This amendment doesn't just simply
apply to the various denominations of the Christian religion (you'd be
surprised to find out too, Mom, that many of these same Americans who
write such editorials would not consider Catholicism a Christian
religion, even though it is. For them, "Christian" equals
"Protestant").
America is not a theocracy. Our government and constitution were
designed to keep religion separate from governance. The founders of
this country may have all been Christian, but they knew from their own
experiences that religious persecution is not something to be
condoned; this is why they specifically wrote in religious freedom
into the Constitution. That means that Americans can practice whatever
religion suits their beliefs, Christian or not, and no one religion
will be granted favorable status over any other.
You are not welcoming immigrants if you tell them that they can come
in provided they agree that the Christian god is superior to all
others. How much more religiously intolerant can you be that saying
"If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the
world as your new home"? Not everyone in the world has the same faith,
but our Constitution still guarantees all of them, as citizens, to
practice it on OUR SOIL without any harassment.
People like the author have no understanding of the way America and
immigration work. It's the same reaction to every wave of immigrants:
"you are different so you don't belong in the country." Go back to
through the history of the country: the Irish, the Italians, Eastern
Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, and Muslims. Every group faced
opposition just because they wanted to immigrate to America and
Americans always have the same xenophobic reaction. And yet immigrants
are the only reason this country runs. If all the immigrants went on
strike, this whole country would come to a standstill: they are our
farmers, factory workers, construction workers, cleaners, truck
drivers, and just flat out the backbone of our country. So really,
authors of those kinds of editorials just need to shut up and climb
down from their elitist pedestal. Once immigrants become citizens they
are just as American as anyone else.
One final thing: do not mislabel immigrants fighting for their
Constitutionally-granted rights as anti-American dissent. It's
actually about as American an act as you can have: a person fighting
for their freedom against people who wish to oppress them. And
thankfully, in America we have a Constitution that allows its citizens
to fight for their rights and have their rights guaranteed, no matter
how much others may want to take them away.
-Paweł
Mamo
Do not forward me this kind of anti-immigrant, religiously-superior,
self-centered filth. The author of the editorial may profess that he
welcomes immigrants into the country, but he clearly doesn't. My big,
BIG issue with this editorial is the whole portion where he talks
about God being a part of the culture. He specifically and clearly
states that he is talking about the Christian God. The founders of
this country came here because they were being religiously persecuted.
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland and Utah (to name a few) were all
states founded by people who felt religious differences significant
enough to merit them moving to a new portion of the country to have
greater religious freedom. In the Bill of Rights, it is very clearly
stated:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
In other words, no religion gets special treatment in this country and
no religion gets suppressed either. This amendment doesn't just simply
apply to the various denominations of the Christian religion (you'd be
surprised to find out too, Mom, that many of these same Americans who
write such editorials would not consider Catholicism a Christian
religion, even though it is. For them, "Christian" equals
"Protestant").
America is not a theocracy. Our government and constitution were
designed to keep religion separate from governance. The founders of
this country may have all been Christian, but they knew from their own
experiences that religious persecution is not something to be
condoned; this is why they specifically wrote in religious freedom
into the Constitution. That means that Americans can practice whatever
religion suits their beliefs, Christian or not, and no one religion
will be granted favorable status over any other.
You are not welcoming immigrants if you tell them that they can come
in provided they agree that the Christian god is superior to all
others. How much more religiously intolerant can you be that saying
"If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the
world as your new home"? Not everyone in the world has the same faith,
but our Constitution still guarantees all of them, as citizens, to
practice it on OUR SOIL without any harassment.
People like the author have no understanding of the way America and
immigration work. It's the same reaction to every wave of immigrants:
"you are different so you don't belong in the country." Go back to
through the history of the country: the Irish, the Italians, Eastern
Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, and Muslims. Every group faced
opposition just because they wanted to immigrate to America and
Americans always have the same xenophobic reaction. And yet immigrants
are the only reason this country runs. If all the immigrants went on
strike, this whole country would come to a standstill: they are our
farmers, factory workers, construction workers, cleaners, truck
drivers, and just flat out the backbone of our country. So really,
authors of those kinds of editorials just need to shut up and climb
down from their elitist pedestal. Once immigrants become citizens they
are just as American as anyone else.
One final thing: do not mislabel immigrants fighting for their
Constitutionally-granted rights as anti-American dissent. It's
actually about as American an act as you can have: a person fighting
for their freedom against people who wish to oppress them. And
thankfully, in America we have a Constitution that allows its citizens
to fight for their rights and have their rights guaranteed, no matter
how much others may want to take them away.
-Paweł