WOULD JESUS BE ALLOWED TO IMMIGRATE TO THE UNITED STATES?
Several people serving in the current administration of the 45th president have been explaining their stance on legal immigration to the United States. While there is much to be said about DACA and family reunification, etc. I have been trying to wrap my head around what has been espoused thus far regarding the changes this administration wants to implement regarding legal immigration. What I am hearing is that the new policy would include more vetting of potential immigrants; bringing in people that are educated and skilled in professions that our country needs.
This made me think about my own ancestors. It is highly doubtful that they would have passed muster in order for them to immigrate. My sixth Great Grandfather on my maternal Grandmother's side of the family left Ireland (the family were Scots who had emigrated to Ulster, Ireland; (his father was born on the Isle of Lewis, Hebrides Island, Scotland) on the ship, "Sally of Coleraine" in 1740. Research shows that he was a farmer. The question is, are we looking for farmers to immigrate to the United States in 2018? Considering the financial difficulties that farmers face; government subsidies and major corporations buying out small farms, it doesn't seem reasonable that our government would be inclined to bringing in farmers.
Would your ancestors have been allowed to immigrate under the guidelines proposed by this inhumane, racist, anti-immigrant, anti-refugee administration?
Consider Jesus Christ, a brown-skinned Middle Easterner with Jewish parents whose earthly occupation was carpenter. Would he be allowed to immigrate under the guidelines proposed? Perhaps, we should also wonder what Jesus would think of the evangelicals who STILL support this disgusting president and his outrageous agenda.
Our country's very foundation was laid by immigrants. Our history has shown that many of these people were treated horribly; prejudice was rampant; ghettos were spread throughout the larger cities where people were segregated by their ancestry. Granted many of the immigrants sought to live with others who came in from the same country to help break the language barrier; ease into their new life in a new country and it felt a little like the homes they had left. But the "ruling" class wanted to keep them there in order to control them and use them. It has only been in the last few decades that I have accepted the reality of a less than stellar past in the United States. Regardless of our imperfections; the continuing fight for equality (racism, sexism, misogyny); an ever growing disparity in income; this is still the country of dreams for immigrants. We are flawed, but still a beautiful country.
Immigrants are being vetted and terrorists are being thwarted from entering our country. Losing our compassion and devolving into a country without basic human decency; turning our backs on the Dreamers and our history as a nation of immigrants raises the question: how much lower can we go?" It appears that the pit is bottomless with the Trump administration and the Republican majority. They have fallen victim to two of the biggest threats to our country: Power and Greed!
"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!" The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
This made me think about my own ancestors. It is highly doubtful that they would have passed muster in order for them to immigrate. My sixth Great Grandfather on my maternal Grandmother's side of the family left Ireland (the family were Scots who had emigrated to Ulster, Ireland; (his father was born on the Isle of Lewis, Hebrides Island, Scotland) on the ship, "Sally of Coleraine" in 1740. Research shows that he was a farmer. The question is, are we looking for farmers to immigrate to the United States in 2018? Considering the financial difficulties that farmers face; government subsidies and major corporations buying out small farms, it doesn't seem reasonable that our government would be inclined to bringing in farmers.
Would your ancestors have been allowed to immigrate under the guidelines proposed by this inhumane, racist, anti-immigrant, anti-refugee administration?
Consider Jesus Christ, a brown-skinned Middle Easterner with Jewish parents whose earthly occupation was carpenter. Would he be allowed to immigrate under the guidelines proposed? Perhaps, we should also wonder what Jesus would think of the evangelicals who STILL support this disgusting president and his outrageous agenda.
Our country's very foundation was laid by immigrants. Our history has shown that many of these people were treated horribly; prejudice was rampant; ghettos were spread throughout the larger cities where people were segregated by their ancestry. Granted many of the immigrants sought to live with others who came in from the same country to help break the language barrier; ease into their new life in a new country and it felt a little like the homes they had left. But the "ruling" class wanted to keep them there in order to control them and use them. It has only been in the last few decades that I have accepted the reality of a less than stellar past in the United States. Regardless of our imperfections; the continuing fight for equality (racism, sexism, misogyny); an ever growing disparity in income; this is still the country of dreams for immigrants. We are flawed, but still a beautiful country.
Immigrants are being vetted and terrorists are being thwarted from entering our country. Losing our compassion and devolving into a country without basic human decency; turning our backs on the Dreamers and our history as a nation of immigrants raises the question: how much lower can we go?" It appears that the pit is bottomless with the Trump administration and the Republican majority. They have fallen victim to two of the biggest threats to our country: Power and Greed!
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884
When I think of those early settlers like my sixth Great Grandfather and all those who came to this land before it was even a country, I think of the line in Robert Browning's "Andrea del Sarto," Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884
"A man's reach should exceed his grasp. Or what's a heaven for?"
My ancestors boarded that ship with a dream, hoping for a better life. Their daughter Anna died on the trip across and was buried at sea, but they persevered becoming the earliest settlers in my hometown; fighting in the Revolutionary War serving under General Washington when they crossed the Delaware River fighting battles in Trenton and Princeton, NJ.
Remembering the lines at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty:
KEEP THE AMERICAN DREAM ALIVE
WE NEED COMPASSIONATE IMMIGRATION REFORM!
DACA NEEDS A CLEAN BILL PASSED!
WE DON'T NEED A WALL!
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