I am writing a dissenting opinion to the editorial by Frosty Wooldridge entitled, “Ongoing Displacement of Americans Out of Our Own Country.” It is the displacement of White Europeans that appears to worry Wooldridge. Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, Asians and others will become the majority, non-white population. “Our own country” consists of a racially diverse group. It is true that by 2042 the census predicts and the Wall Street Journal confirms that 51% of America will be represented by the above groups. For some, this is a concern, but I remain unconcerned. Why the fear?
Wooldridge alleges that our US Congress has imported immigrants. Yes, the Chinese were imported to work on our railroads. Where would the Southwest be without the Hispanics who work/worked in: landscaping, cleaning homes, and offices, hotel and restaurant labor, childcare and eldercare? Our steel mills and mines? Picking crops, working in slaughter houses and chicken processing plants, crabbers, farm labor, construction work and other work whites won’t do? The Bracero Program was created by executive order in 1942 because many growers argued that World War II would bring labor shortages. Mexican workers were brought into this country from 1942-1964 as guest workers and stayed. (source: braceroarchive.org). Americans also imported African Americans as slaves to do the work Whites would not.
Wooldridge ascertains illegal aliens cross our borders, inhabit all 50 states, allowing their women to birth their babies as “anchor babies.” If Hispanics are illegal, then what do we call the Atlantic crossing by our immigrant ancestors? The Europeans did not come with papers, nor were they “legal.” Further, most Hispanics are descendants from Native Americans like Aztecs, Mayas, Hohokams, Anasazi, Sinagua, Mogollon, Pueblo, and Spanish conquistadores who existed in the Southwest long before any Whites arrived and borders were drawn. Our founding fathers saw citizenship as being determined using the principle of jus soli—a Latin term meaning “right of the soil” or birthright citizenship. The Founders carried this principle forward in their new government, and jus soli became the “law of the land” for American citizenship (Source: National Geographic). Additionally, it’s important to note that having an “anchor baby” won’t do much to help parents become US citizens. Citizen children cannot sponsor their parents for citizenship until they are 21, and if the parents were illegal, they would have to reside in their home country for 10 years before applying. Let us not forget the Mexican-American War in 1846 where Zachary Taylor’s troops invaded Mexican territory. The Alamo, where Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie were living, was on Mexican soil. Manifest Destiny, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase sealed the fate of Mexico. (Source: www.history.com).
Wooldridge asserts that, “..in 1965 European-Americans who designed the US Constitution and created the most successful civilization on this planet” is confusing. Our Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 by White, wealthy, male landowners. He states that Muslims will become a dominant force in cities where they enclave. Immigrant Muslim women don’t have more babies in the US than their other counterparts. Further, there’s an executive order banning 7 Muslim countries from immigrating to the US!
Wooldridge quotes an author, Audacious Epigone, saying ….”You see, some whites are descended from slave owners, so that makes all whites racist. Slaves were captured in Africa by Africans.” Yes, some Whites were descended from slave owners, but some Whites are also descended from slaves! Are they racist? Cases in point: Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings, conceived many children together. Further, John Wayles, a slave trader, was Martha Jefferson’s father. He had a liaison several times with Elizabeth Hemings making Sally Hemings and Martha Jefferson half sisters. Slave women had no defense against a master’s predatory ways. Chattel slavery meant slave women and their children were owned by a White master forever. Yes, Africans did capture and sell people into slavery. Greed is a powerful motivator, and no race escapes worshiping at the altar of money.
Epigone stated “Western civilization was invented by Whites.” Civilizations are not invented but evolve over time. Ancient civilizations have had great influence on Western civilization. The United States was never and will never be “our own country.” When White Europeans arrived on our shores, it was already inhabited. We are all descendants from immigrants. In 1607, Jamestown would never have survived without the help of the Natives. What was their reward? White Europeans broke treaties, took land, massacred them, and gave them smallpox. (Read: American Holocaust by David E. Stannnard).
Wooldridge claims, “…if you enjoyed being a White-majority and/or a Black presence in America….” Whites enjoyed being a dominant, powerful majority, but I question that Blacks enjoyed their presence here. They arrived on our shores in the bonds of chattel slavery, were lynched repeatedly, and suffered under the Jim Crow Laws and KKK. During Reconstruction, Andrew Johnson allowed ex-Confederate soldiers and supporters to reclaim their lost land and become the law enforcement in many towns across the South. (Source: www.history.com). In the 60’s, the Civil Rights era raged. Bull Connor released his German Shepherd dogs on African Americans, and hosed them with fire hydrant hoses. I cringed in disbelief as African Americans were annihilated on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they tried to cross it. Our laws continued to support redlining in our banking and housing rules, effectively keeping African Americans out of our White communities. Defined, red lining is the systematic denial of various services to residents of specific, often racially associated, neighborhoods or communities, either directly or through the selective raising of prices. During the Great Migration, African Americans were segregated and forced to live several families in a house. The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million African Americans between 1916-1970 out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West. Today, after 400 years of slavery our institutionalized, systemic slavery and racism continues. (Source: www.history.com). African American parents must warn their children about how to behave when they are stopped by law enforcement.
Wooldridge alleges an “immigration demise of Europe.” He cited a book as his evidence. We realize we can all find at least one book to back up our claims. In a nation built by immigrants, our ancestors were the ones who made our country great. Yes, they settled in areas with people like them, and loved perpetuating their cultural connections.
Wooldridge asks how children will live in a country with immigrants. As a 47 year veteran teacher of 1st-3rd grades, the answer is: If parents allow them, children will learn to accept immigrants benevolently. In schools, we are teaching our students how to find evidence to support their opinions rather than blurt them out like their models. Hopefully our bully prevention programs will teach our students how to listen to each other without critique and then to add their thoughts in a respectful way, regardless of race.
Lastly, Wooldridge contends that …”All those 110 million more immigrants flooding into America by 2050 come to our country from failed countries, failed civilizations and utterly violent and destructive cultures.” American involvement during the horrific civil wars in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador was reprehensible. In El Mozote, nearly 1,000 civilians were killed by the US School of the Americas-trained Salvadoran Army unit known as the Atlacatl Battalion. (Source www.theguardian.com). What about our support of the Shah of Iran? Saddam Hussein? Chile, where Pinochet assumed power following a United States-backed coup d’état in September 1973 that overthrew the democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende, ending civilian rule (Source: www.Britannica.com). Many immigrants come to America to have better lives, just as our ancestors did.
Solutions to continue the course of an immigrant America:
- Integrate our neighborhoods.
2. Continue chain migration to sustain the family ties of immigrant people.
3. Embrace diversity in our country—don’t fear it.
Karen M. Syversen
