“BORN IN THE…USA!!!”
If you’re about the same age as I am, give or take a decade, then you remember Bruce Springfield strutting around the stage, wearing a flagged bandana on his sweating curls, leading the audience in the chorus with his raspy, synergistic wailing: “Born in the…USA...Born in the…USA!!!”
I confess to not remembering the rest of the song, or why it was so popular. I could tell you all about Bob Dylan’s lyrics, and his era of singer songwriters, but it seems that The Boss was actually at one time proud to be “born in the…USA.”
I wonder how many of us take this privilege of our natural citizenship for granted, and how many of us are really examining our roots of our grandparents and other ancestors who came here legally when the system of immigration actually worked for this country, and worked well, because it testified to the entire world that the United States of America really was the Land of the Free.
We heard from our ancestors about the feeling in their hearts when they saw the Statue of Liberty, the feeling of incredible accomplishment and pride when they were sworn in as a United States Citizen after studying about our country’s history and government, and we listened to their stories of how hard they labored, day and night, in addition to learning the language of this country.
My mother’s parents came separately to this country from Italy while they were teenagers. All immigrants during that time were detained in New York for many weeks while their backgrounds were being checked by our government. They had to have sponsors, a relative or friend in this country already established in America. Once they were cleared, they were free to live and work, while studying to become a citizen.
My grandmother was very young, and taught herself to read and write English. She was a very intelligent woman in the “old country”, an intellectual, a person who valued the arts, culture, and the opera. She loved politics and history. I thought she was stupid, because she could not speak English. To me, she was just “an immigrant”. I wasn’t close to her at all until after she died, when my mother told me about her, and I realized how intelligent my grandmother really was.
I never met my grandfather because he died before I was born. He did not learn the language. He felt it wasn’t necessary because he was a laborer and worked with his Italian friends indoors at the leather tannery, and outside on the farms. He did not complain. He was grateful that he had even a job to take care of his family. He loved America. One of his pleasures was listening to the fights on the radio. My mother would sit with him and translate all the action from English to Italian.
My father’s parents came to America from Canada. They spoke Canadian French, and broken English. They established themselves in America, became citizens, and owned a farm and a boarding house. They died before I was born, but my father was very proud of both of them, because they worked very hard on American soil, and provided jobs to other immigrants on their farm, as well as a place to live.
A dear friend of mine came to this country in the late 60s because of oppression in his own country. He came here legally, through sponsorship, and was detained for a few weeks while our government checked his background. When he was free to leave, he began his journey to becoming a United States Citizen. He learned our language, went to work, studied here, and has had a very successful life. He is the smartest man I know, a cultured gentleman, and a most fascinating person.
These are examples of the immigration process when it worked. That was then. This is now. Why has it evolved into this quagmire of political division, something that necessitates 392 pages of rhetoric to appease Democrats, Republicans, and all those who fall in between?
If you examine the immigration bill being pushed in our faces, you will realize it is only a palliative course and not a curative one. Woven through it are some very complex and mean-spirited restrictions for a population of immigrants who have been here for decades, and have been working for our country, not collecting from the government, but actually working on farms, in restaurants, in nursing homes, in construction; but slipped through the process 20 or 30 years ago. They brought their families, their sons and daughters have gone to school here. That means their families are Americanized, not necessarily citizens. Can you imagine what hell this bill is going to cause for them?
I admit something has to be done for “illegals”, and the “illegal criminal immigrants”, but what about the people who came to this country, but could not for some reason, adapt, learn, and become a citizen because it was just too hard for them, maybe because they were working day and night and just didn’t have the time or didn’t truly understand the consequences. They were blending in too fast, got lost in the shuffle like so many other millions. Or they were simply not smart enough to pass the exam and they knew it. Why bother.
What does this immigration bill stand for? Who does it appease? What makes it right? What makes it wrong? Will it rip apart families who are partly Americanized? Will it create economic vacuums in some job markets? These are questions we need to ask ourselves, our Senators and Representatives, and our President.
Just one more question. What were the rest of those lyrics “Born in the…USA?”
