Who are we in America?

                                               America, Who are we? 

       I was born into this Republic, some 76 years ago. My ancestors had come here in the 1840’s looking for a refuge from the hunger and desperation of an impoverished land. They sought out jobs, on the waterfronts and in the factories to feed their families and find a place to practice their religion.

         They found both in a thriving Buffalo, New York. To be sure, their labors were unsklilled. The sweat of their brow and the strength of their backs enabled them to bring home wages to feed their own. And sure, as a people at the bottom of the immigration ladder, they were looked down on as ruffians and uncouth immigrants, by the “proper people” who had already settled here. The irony of course was the fact that many of the “proper people” had arisen from the uncouth working class but a scant generation or two before.

          Like all immigrants to America, our people worked hard, educated their children and tried their level best to blend in to the society around them. After a few generations, they did so. Many of our own had taken advantage of the educational system to rise into the professional ranks in society.

           Below them of course had come succeeding waves of immigrants looking for the same type of opportunity and freedom that those who had arrived before them. They struggled with the language and the customs, but they were willing to work and earn their way. They too climbed the ladder of successful integration one generation at a time.

            Most of us remember who we are and from whence we had come. The humble roots of our own were not an embarrassment but a matter of pride, that showed how far we had come and how hard we had worked to get where we are.

          Curiously though, some few of us of us forgot our humble roots. They looked with disapproval at the sweaty and grasping workers who now held positions that our own had held but a few generations before. 

          One of the great traditions of this wonderful Republic that we inhabit, is the tradition of reaching down to give a leg up to those below us on the economic ladder, so that they too might climb to the higher reaches where their families were secure and they enjoyed the full bounty of the Republic. Whatever happened to this noble tradition?

          Today, we see people quietly cheering on the government when it seeks to round up our latest level of immigrants and ship them back to an uncertain future in a land they had long forgotten. Where did that animosity come from? Did we all forget our own immigrant roots?

          All of my immigrant antecedents would have been considered “illegal immigrants.” They got off the boats from Europe, jumped onto a stage or a canal boat and made their way inland, to help develop this burgeoning Republic. Their strong backs and the sweat of their brow was welcomed by a nation in the building. How has any of this changed today?

          Our agricultural and food processing sectors are manned in large part by newly arrived immigrants. The jobs that they hold, no American would ever dream of performing. So why do we resent these ambitious souls for helping us out? And if these hard-working souls are removed from this land, who will fill in for them? Not anyone I know.

          Collectively, we need to pause and take stock of who and what we are as a nation. We need to re-examine our core values and decide how we are to proceed in the decades ahead. Work, effort and education have been the onramp to success in this great Republic. Let’s give all of those around us the chance to help rebuild our country and make it better for those who come after us.

       May the good Lord look after all of us  and give us the charity and decency to extend our hands to the newly arrived, so that they too can help make us a better tomorrow for all of our citizens.

       May The good Lord Bless America and alll of her peoples.

                                                           -30-

                                                    (699 words)

                                                 Joseph Xavier Martin