Is Immigration an American Way?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 06:08PM Each day that I read the latest edition of Standing Firm I am more convinced that my views on the immigration issues are 100% American. I am proud that I am not a xenophobic, not a racist, not an insensitive, calloused hate-infested bigotist.
I think of my ancestors who managed to get to this country in spite of all obstacles–often in the hold of a stinking ship–to escape torture, oppression, discrimination and the same hate-mentality that is becoming so much more prevalent in this country.
When I scan through my newest novel, THE IMMIGRANT, I sometimes wonder: where did those words come from? Then I think: they really are a reflection of my own passion for human rights.
Thank God that there are still a majority of people in this country who think the same way I do. They might stand back and not speak but, I know that in their hearts they are compassinate toward the underprivileged.
Immigration
Reader Comments (1)
Dear Charles,
Thank you for your post to my blog. Your comment lead me to this page, which is wonderful. I haven't talked about my work much online (the page you found is very recent, the original www.coldspaghetti.blogspot.com goes back to 2004), but I work with immigrants. In fact, it was the drastic change within the Latino community that kept us here after Hurricane Katrina (our pre-Katrina plans were to move to Lima, Peru in 2006). My dissertation, for a PhD in Public Health, involves in-depth interviews to learn more about generational health changes in the Latino immigrant community and how identity and discrimination may play a role in these paradoxes. I was also selected as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow for this academic year for my work within the Latino community and to support a parenting education program for Spanish-speaking families. In short, the subject of your newest book and your thoughtful words about the humanity and compassion missing within the context of the immigrant debate in our country, struck a strong chord within me.
I look forward to reading your book and hope that the opportunity arises for the two of us to talk further.