I may have come from another country.
I may be poor and destitute.
I may work hard to support my family.
But, I may also be an ‘Illegal.’
Maybe I have a girl-friend or wife.
Maybe she’s pregnant - a new life.
You call them ‘anchor babies’
Causing you more strife.
Maybe I have a ‘green card’ -
Maybe I don’t?
Should it matter?
Should I be shunned?
Perhaps a very pleasant peasant?
A veritable ‘pobrocito.’
Aren’t I ‘entitled’ -
To receive every ‘placebo?’
Perchance I don’t pay taxes.
Perchance I do.
But, I can’t speak English -
Even tho’ you do!
I’d like to join - to assimilate.
But, all I experience is -
Regretful - despicable ... ‘hate.’
I ask you: “Is that Fair?”
You absorb my costs -
Medical and schooling -
While I procreate -
Who am I fooling?
Big Brother has dictated -
Second Language to be Espanol.
Every darned Voice-Mail is programmed:
“El Presso Dos por ...” to aggravate your soul!
There are plenty of me -
Snuck in your door -
Millions n’ millions ...
Es Verdad ... por Favor!
Back home, in Olde Mexico -
There is no: Mi, Re, or Do!
So I cross the border -
Assume the risk - why should I - cease n’ desist?
I do the tasks, you find unwanted -
Why, oh why, should I be undaunted?
Mow the lawns, pick crops - in the very hot sun -
Do landscaping - gee, what fun!
Your ‘other’ minority has enjoyed
Big Brother’s ‘Freebies’ for decades -
Welfare - Medicaid - Social Security -
Why should I not Also get - The ‘Whole Enchilada?’
For after all is said and done -
Your ‘Lady Liberty’ did, in fact,
Open the door, on July 4th, 1776 -
For on her pedestal, there is affixed:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
This poem is called the ‘New Colossus’
and it was written by Emma Lazarus.
Has time changed your attitude?
Is that quotation no longer true ?
While you ‘bitch n’ moan’ -
What should I do?
After reading the reviews, this reply to *STARMAN* just HAD to be added ...
STARMAN ROCKIE ...
BY GEORGE, I THINK YOU'VE GOT IT!
You hit the proverbial nail, smack dab on the head! Our Ancestors (God Bless 'em) SCREWED the American Indians AND the Mexican Americans - who were HERE FIRST ... out of Everything!
Their: Land, Buffaloes, Cultures, Religions, Territories, Names of Places, Rivers, Mountain Ranges, and Even ... Languages!
As Linguistic Giants, we learned to say: "HOW!"
And taught them how to say: "WHY NOT?"
Maybe "KEMO SABE" ain't really such a nice phrase for the "GRINGOS?"
"What Goes Around, Comes Around!"
So, perhaps it is just 'Full Circle'?
Maybe we need to "Circle the Wagons" again?
Tee-Pees - Wampum - and - Bright Shiny Beads! Yeah! THAT was Fair!
Peace-Pipe? - Maybe that's what we need now? How say you ... 'Big Apple Bull'?
Similar story....my grandfolks came from Canada to work the mills and do the job no native-born would do. They didn't speak a word of English. Legally, illegally....I don't know.
What I do know ias that doors were slammed shut in their faces, thtey were called "White Chinese" because of their industry and fecundity and were taken advantage of by everyone who came before.
Thus ever the way with immigrants.
I was brought up in a French Canadian household, learned French for a half day in school, and remember the latter-day "English only" people bitching because my memere had spent more time in the mills than in learning English.
America is enlarged by every wave of immigrants it takes in, and our polyglot heritage makes our culture that much more colorful. Sometimes I get impatient with folks I see in the store speaking another language, thern I remembeer what MY forefathers went through and feel ashamed at my prejudice.
French Canadians were going to take over New England. You could hear French spoken more than English in parts of many mill towns up to fairly recently. Guess what? You seldom hear it anymore and those of us concerned about our heritage struggle to preserve it. Assimiklarion works. That's a good thing, but it can also leavem us rootless, with no sense of where we've come from.
You have done well and touched on many fine points, but we are a country of laws. I am first generation, my parents spoke little English, coming to America to grab their piece of prosperity, but coming legally. Not all in the family was allowed in, but that is life when there are laws. I believe in legal immigration and assimilation, otherwise we will continue to be a country of tribes and that serves no one. Yes, as a country we welcome all with open arms who enter legally, learn the laws, customs, and language. Would you leave your front and back door open 24/7 for strangers to gain entrance, stay a while, eat your food, spend your money??
IT IS THE LAST PART OF YOUR SHARING THAT I ZEROED IN ON; IF I WAS IN THE SAME BOAT...WHAT WOULD I WANT DONE? I WOULD NOT WANT TO BE(IN MANY CASES)WRESTED AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN AND MY SPOUSE AND MADE TO GO BACK TO WHAT I RAN AWAY FROM. IF I HAD PROVEN MYSELF BY WORKING HARD PROVIDING FOR MYSELF AND MY FAMILY AND HAD STAYED OUT OF ANY TROUBLE, BASICALLY A DECENT, LAW ABIDING PERSON...AND IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT I WAS HERE ILLEGALLY I WOULD WANT THE AUTHORITIES TO LOOK AT MORE THAN JUST THE FACT THAT I AM ILLEGAL. I WOULD WANT THEM TO CONSIDER ALL THE POSITIVE THINGS ABOUT ME AND GIVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO REMAIN HERE WITH MY FAMILY. AND YOU ARE SO RIGHT; IF WE HAVE OPENED OUR 'DOORS' TO OTHERS...THAN WE SHOULD OPEN OUR DOORS TO EVERYONE. I AM ALREADY HERE...GIVE ME A CHANCE!...WITHOUT THE BACKLASH OF MEAN, UNCARING PEOPLE. THIS IS A STRONG, TIMELY WORK...ENJOYED. THANKS FOR SHARING. LOVE, BLESSINGS & FAITH...JOYCE * HIS INSPIRATIONS
To PATRICK ... back in the 'good ole days' when a young 'stud' got in 'trouble' the Judge gave him a choice - JAIL or the ARMY! What if 'Uncle Sam' gave them All 'GREETINGS' letters (in Espanol of course) - A bunk, 3-Squares a day, a Rifle, and ENGLISH LESSONS ... ALL FREE!
We'd never have to institute the 'DRAFT' again!
A veritable 'endless supply' of 'VOLUNTEERS'!
In a short while, we'd have a Bigger 'Mexican Army' than THE Mexican Army!
I think you were fair to both sides. This has become more of a class issue disguised as a race issue. There are multitudes of illegals that are hard working decent people. There are also multitudes who are entrenched in social programs from which they will never be extracted. Worse there are multitudes who will never assimilate be because the are hopeless thugs who have banded into gangs or are incarcerated. They are at an economic disadvantage due to language and educational barriers WHICH ARE CORRECTABLE. An alarming percentage choose not to. But then, the school drop out rate for gringos is alarming too. It's a mess. That's why I continue working on my moat. The drawbridge is already designed. Patrick
SOOOOOOOOOO, if I go to Mexico, will I get the same treatment as they do that come here...ie: supported by the government...I sincerely doubt it...though got to admit they DO the work that not even young kids fresh from HS or College will do...they want more money...this is a hard problem to deal with at any age or in any country...e
This poem is perspective driven toward making me consider the plight of the newly minted Americans and the ones who are not in equal but opposite terms. One seeks a good life and is glad to be here, and the other is tired of living here the way things are now and the blames the newly minted arrivals for the mess he had created before the freshly arrived. It is a wonder, if the American Indian that was once dominant in America before the next wave of humanity swept over their shores, felt the same way about the European settlers and conquerors from the old world, ...oh wait, they fixed them turkey and gravy with all the fixing!!! - Starman
I do the tasks, you find unwanted -
Why, oh why, should I be undaunted?
Mow the lawns, pick crops - in the very hot sun -
Do landscaping - gee, what fun!
We are truly a Nation of Immigrants, and my own European ancestors were extremely glad that we had as a motto: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free."
And to answer your question, if I truly thought that a better life for myself and my family was across some border, I would attempt to cross it, as my ancestors crossed the sea.
For the reasons I describe in this book, the world-wide suffering, death and extinction of humanity is very likely to occur, unless nonviolent and democratically determined radical and revolutionary personal and societal actions and changes are taken
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What I do know ias that doors were slammed shut in their faces, thtey were called "White Chinese" because of their industry and fecundity and were taken advantage of by everyone who came before.
Thus ever the way with immigrants.
I was brought up in a French Canadian household, learned French for a half day in school, and remember the latter-day "English only" people bitching because my memere had spent more time in the mills than in learning English.
America is enlarged by every wave of immigrants it takes in, and our polyglot heritage makes our culture that much more colorful. Sometimes I get impatient with folks I see in the store speaking another language, thern I remembeer what MY forefathers went through and feel ashamed at my prejudice.
French Canadians were going to take over New England. You could hear French spoken more than English in parts of many mill towns up to fairly recently. Guess what? You seldom hear it anymore and those of us concerned about our heritage struggle to preserve it. Assimiklarion works. That's a good thing, but it can also leavem us rootless, with no sense of where we've come from.
Sorry so long....
Chip Bergeron
Be always safe,
Karen
To PATRICK ... back in the 'good ole days' when a young 'stud' got in 'trouble' the Judge gave him a choice - JAIL or the ARMY! What if 'Uncle Sam' gave them All 'GREETINGS' letters (in Espanol of course) - A bunk, 3-Squares a day, a Rifle, and ENGLISH LESSONS ... ALL FREE!
We'd never have to institute the 'DRAFT' again!
A veritable 'endless supply' of 'VOLUNTEERS'!
In a short while, we'd have a Bigger 'Mexican Army' than THE Mexican Army!
Would THAT be FAIR? TK...
Why, oh why, should I be undaunted?
Mow the lawns, pick crops - in the very hot sun -
Do landscaping - gee, what fun!
We are truly a Nation of Immigrants, and my own European ancestors were extremely glad that we had as a motto: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free."
And to answer your question, if I truly thought that a better life for myself and my family was across some border, I would attempt to cross it, as my ancestors crossed the sea.