My ancestors might have been illegal immigrants. I have no reason to suspect that they were, nor any reason to believe that everything was on the up and up. We are not a family of scrapbooking types, so if there ever were immigration papers, they would have been lost, destroyed, or stuffed in an unmarked box in the dank corner of someone’s basement long ago. What I do know is that there have never been any claims of American Indian heritage in my family, so basically, we are guilty of being part of the problem. We come from Russia, Germany, Poland (when it was part of Russia), Ireland, Canada, and France. Maybe elsewhere. My Russian family had our name changed by dolts who could not pronounce or spell anything other than strictly Anglo words. The result: a Russian last name that was –almost ironically–converted to one that looks Hispanic and is often pronounced as such. That part of the family came through legal means, I suppose, in the late 19th century. As for the rest of my family, who knows? It’s plausible that the French-Canadian ones crossed over to Vermont through the woods at night. Others ended up in the state after being routed through Indiana and Wisconsin. At any rate, we have not been here for terribly long.
I was born in the U.S., as were my parents. I can’t vouch for my father’s parents. How far back must one prove legal entrance before the current surge of nativists are content with offering us non-Mayflower arrivals “services” or “privileges?” Because I am white and speak without an accent (beyond the occasional regional inflection) I have not once been questioned by anyone in government or law enforcement about my immigration status or right to be here. It’s assumed that I belong. When I have called the police in past years to report various crimes (drug-related activity, fights/altercations), I was never asked to prove my identity. There was not even a check of my driver’s license.
I can not get away from the irony that exists in the immigration “debate.” For starters, many opponents of sharing the land claim religiosity of the Judeo-Christian persuasion, yet have no attention span about the tenets of their religions. Like many other parts of American life, they have gone the route of picking and choosing what seems most convenient in their religion/laws to suit their personal prejudices. In the Ten Commandments, we are directed not to steal, murder, or cheat. Elsewhere in the Bible, we are urged to love our neighbors, our brothers. Although not an expert, I’ve read the Bible a few times independently, and don’t recall ever seeing a suggestion that God urged people to take up arms, sit by borders, and pick off fellow humans as they attempted to cross without filing paperwork.
As for picking and choosing, some nativists like to talk about how their ancestors did everything by the book, and so they are rightfully here and now entitled to prohibit others from coming. The Edge of the American West addresses this in Eric’s article, “Inventing Illegal Immigration.” Likewise, an overview of immigration history on the Ellis Island website shows that immigration laws and restrictions have been in flux, and at times, there were no laws regarding this issue. Continue reading '“For the last time, don’t share your toys with your brother!”'»
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The final community listening session for the Planning & Zoning Commission will be Tuesday evening at Rawson School. So far, there have been sessions at the Pope Park Rec Center, United Methodist Church, and Metzner Rec Center. Each session has focused on proposed land use for nearby neighborhoods.
Asylum Hill, Barry Square, Behind the Rocks, Blue Hills, Clay Arsenal, Economics, Environment, Frog Hollow, Hartford, POCD, Parkville, South End, Urban Renewal, West End, architecture/design, blight, class, commentary, community, downtown, housing, library, neighborhoods, north end, parks, photos, quality of life, south green, tax money in action, transportation
