My
heart aches for those caught in the immigration ban. You see, I am the
granddaughter of Danish immigrants. My
grandmother came here as a teenager with her parents. My grandfather was in his
twenties and changed his last name as he passed through Ellis Island – for what
reason we will never know. And I married to someone whose German grandparents
fled to this country to escape religious persecution.
It
is not that my personal story is special or unique. It is the very ordinary
story. Shared with many many of my friends. People who came here with next to
nothing to start new lives. Hardworking people willing to leave family and
friends they would never see again. All of them endured a long sea journey.
We
are a country of immigrants. Even native First Nation people, who claimed this
land first. People who became winners of Nobel prizes. Shopkeepers and
farmers. Composers and artists and
writers. Scientists, engineers, and teachers. Refugees fleeing war. All of
these people have contributed in many ways to our culture and our heritage.
The
Statue of Liberty is a symbol of our American dream. At her base are these
words:
"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!"
As a child I
wondered what this golden door was. But it did not matter to me. I fervently
believed these words, this motto for my country. And I still do.
Now I see streams
of refugees, whose lives are far worse than anything my particular ancestors
endured. Some of them die in their attempts to escape from camps that give them
no promise of a future.
The solutions to
their plight are complex. But to bar them from hope because of their religion
is cruelty beyond imagination. In this country, along with many other
countries, lie compassionate solutions – not responses of bigotry and hatred.
I love my peaceful
little neighborhood. I have Muslim neighbors, family from Ethiopia, and Hmong
people and others. We enrich each other’s
lives. All of us yearn to “breathe
free” as Lady Liberty reminds us day after day.
Read individual
stories of people landing here and not granted entry – to be shipped back to
their home countries. The six-year old who “might be a threat.” The elderly grandfather
who came to see his grandchildren – detained 17 hours and then put on a plane for
the long trip back to his country. Spouses separated from spouses already here.
Graduate students unable to re-enter after a visit with family back home. The
list goes on and on.
Recite the
words at the base of the Statue of Liberty out loud . Sing a few verses of America and other patriotic songs. Remember your own ancestry – because
we are all immigrants - the daughters and sons of people who came here to build a
better life for themselves and for their children.A better life for all of us.
