“Illegal aliens,” by which most of us mean Mexicans, have been taking a lot of blame lately. They are, we are told, diluting our culture, taking our jobs, and demanding free medical care, free education and flaunting our laws.
I respectfully disagree.
If King John of Portugal, in the 1480s, had seen the wisdom of discovering the New World, we well could be speaking Portuguese. But John wasn’t interested, so Christopher Columbus went next door.
And if King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain had thought, in 1492, to send Chris in his quest accompanied by Spanish brigands and other unwanted of its citizens, English would, indeed be the primary language among “illegal aliens” crossing our borders in 2007, and our schools might well be teaching “Spanish as a Second Language.”
Instead, it was England which sent its hard working criminals of varied description to die in the unexplored land — or survive and provide riches for His Majesty.
Too many of our politicians focus on national ills they want us to believe are caused by “illegal” Mexicans “streaming” across our southern border:
= We need a law to make English our national language.
In my favorite, now closed, Chinese restaurant, I watched a brother and sister grow up, speaking Chinese with their mother and other workers, and learning to speak English with no accent with their customers and friends. I walk through the grocery store and overhear similar conversations in Spanish, children switching languages without even seeming to think about it. English is the national language.
= Latinos are hot-tempered, given to violence.
Of the five murders on which I have reported in Adams County, one was by a Latino. Four of the murders were by White, U.S. citizens. One victim was a girlfriend, two were wives, and one was killed by teen-age boys for beer money.
= “Illegals” are taking jobs away from would-be hard-working U.S. citizens.
Shoe factories and woolen mills did not disappear from Maine’s industrial landscape because Mexicans illegally traveled to Maine to work in them. They closed when management found its products could be made in the Orient and shipped back here cheaper than they could be made in this country.
Steel mills in Pennsylvania did not close down because Mexicans illegally traveled to Pennsylvania to work in them. They closed because Japanese steel was cheaper.
Ford is not in trouble because Mexicans illegally traveled to Detroit to build pickup trucks. Ford is in trouble because urban soccer moms have decided to swap the four-door F-150 for a Toyota Prius.
Adams County orchards are not disappearing because Mexicans illegally travel to Aspers to work in them. They are closing because Giant and Wal-Mart can buy apples from Washington and China and Peru and New Zealand cheaper than they can buy them from orchards less than 10 miles away from the store.
“Times have changed since our great-grandparents immigrated to America seeking a better life,” a politician said recently. “Those early immigrants enriched our country by bringing with them a strong work ethic, a belief in the importance of family, a desire to be part of American society.”
Visit St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church during the Spanish Mass, and see the families, their children quietly wandering in the aisles rather than sequestered in “day care.” Talk to those who are “stealing our jobs” about laziness.
It has been said America is a melting pot, but I like better the image of American society as a tossed salad, where none of the ingredients lose their own identity while creating in the mixture a taste that none could accomplish by itself.
© 2007. Readers may contact John by email at jmesseder@comcast.net.
