Posted by
Lisa F on Monday, May 14, 2007 11:28:30 AM
As a non-White American, I feel the need to address the opinions
of those who seem to think that diversity has lead to the downfall of
American society.
In his May 1 article, "The Dark Side of
Diversity," Pat Buchanan opines that the Immigration Act of 1965 is an
assault on the United States, that it was “an invasion” against those
who have already lived here. He further states that those immigrants
who end up on these shores have never fully assimilated.
According
to Mr. Buchanan, these immigrants “seek community in their separate
subdivisions,” and because of this, “Americans no longer share the old
ties of history, heritage, faith, language, tradition, culture, music,
myth or morality….”
It is extremely incredulous that someone who
once ran for the President of the United States, knows so little about
American history.
So the following is a refresher course for Mr.
Buchanan who seems to think that closing our borders is the best policy
for America:
Those you refer to as immigrants are the ones that
built transcontinental railroads, tended to Hawaiian sugarcane
plantations, and worked on Californian farmlands.
Those you refer to as strangers canned fish in Alaska, picked cotton in Louisiana and grew tobacco in Virginia.
Those
you refer to as aliens fought (and died) in the American Revolution,
the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II,
Korean War, Vietnam War, Dessert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom. (Many were
denied U.S. citizenship even as they gave their life to this country.)
As
for those that “seek community in their separate subdivisions,” many of
these subdivisions were created because “the national community” as you
put it, lynched African Americans in the South, rounded up Japanese
Americans into internment camps, and forced Chinese Americans into
zoned areas.
Are these egregious acts not, as you say, an invasion against those who have already lived here?
Are
non-White Americans held to a different standard just because we have
fat folds in our eyelids, speak Spanish, pray to Allah, or listen to
hip-hop?
With the case of Seung Hui Cho, let’s make one thing
clear: having been in the United States since he was 8, (which makes
that 15 out of 23 years of existence), Cho was less an immigrant and
more an Americanized individual.
Cho’s violence mimicked those
of cowboy westerns, where gun-slinging characters portrayed by John
Wayne, Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood went on shooting rampages. He
went through legal means of purchasing weapons for his heinous acts,
means that were protected by an Amendment in the Constitution.
While
in no way am I condoning the atrocious acts of a mentally ill person, I
do have to stress that our mainstream media does not need to highlight
the fact that he was not a U.S. citizen.
A person’s status is simply not in the equation of those who are disturbed enough to kill.
If
that were the case, how would you explain Timothy McVeigh, a decorated
Army veteran who was born and raised in New York? Or Terry Nichols, the
FBI official who helped McVeigh plot the terrorist act in Oklahoma?
Let’s
not forget that it was these U.S. citizens who were behind the second
deadliest act of domestic terrorism in history, killing 168 people
including 19 babies.
Let’s not forget about Chicago-born Ted
Kaczynski who was behind a 20-plus year terror spree, sending bombs in
the mail that killed three and wounded 23.
Let’s not forget
about Florida native Eric Robert Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber that
planted bombs all over the South, killing three and wounding 111 others.
Again. A person’s status is simply not in the equation of those who are disturbed enough to kill.
But we’re not here to talk about terrorists.
We’re here to talk about immigration.
We’re
here to talk about what you coined “the dark side of diversity,” the
so-called “invasion” the majority is “opposed to”. Is that majority
opposed to people who come here, taking on backbreaking labor for less
pay, people who contribute to the economic viability of this nation
while being denied access to create their own American dream?
Are
we as a nation supposed to turn our backs on the Statue of Liberty's
credo and forget that the very identity of America is that of an
immigrant nation? Should we all forget that many of those “huddled
masses yearning to breathe free” were our own ancestors looking for
better opportunities?
So for you Mr. Buchanan to say, that “Americans no longer share the old ties,” is misleading at the very least.
There’s no denying this one fact: with the exception of the indigenous natives, we are all a bunch of immigrants.
That is our history. That is our heritage. That is our culture.