OK, OK, this isn't precisely true
for every single American, but it makes the point:
Unless you are actually descended
from an unbroken line of mommies and daddies who were literally the children of
children who were Native Americans—OK, Indians—since before Columbus
unwittingly "discovered" America, then there's at least one immigrant
in your family tree.
The point is: nearly all native born American citizens alive
today are descended from immigrants. At least one of your ancestors, maybe way
back, was one of "them."
A few days ago President Obama put
it this way in remarks on the current proposals for sensible reform of our
immigration and citizenship laws:
"You
know, unless you’re one of the first Americans, a Native American, you came
from someplace else. Somebody brought you. ... The Irish, who left behind a
land of famine; the Germans, who fled persecution; the Scandinavians, who
arrived eager to pioneer out west; the Polish; the Russians; the Italians; the
Chinese; the Japanese; the West Indians; the huddled masses who came through
Ellis Island on one coast and Angel Island on the other -- (cheers, applause)
-- you know, all those folks, before they were us, they were them."
I know there
are immigrants in my family history. I'm real glad they came here.
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