IMMIGRATION MUSINGS

The story goes that my grandfather, my mother’s father, came to this country illegally. He had first emigrated from Russia at the end of the 19th century and went to what was then Palestine. He was one of the early settlers working on

what we now know as a Kibbutz. But Poppy, as we called him, was not content in such a barren, unforgiving land.

So he came to the US. Well, at least tried. He had the eye disease that plagued many Eastern Europeans at the time and was denied entry at Ellis Island. He went to Canada.

And the folklore is that he walked across the border to New Hampshire and, the rest, as they say, is history.

MY GRANDFATHER WAS AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT-

MAYBE

In the past five years, immigrants to Italy have been the reason that the country has not lost population.

The Italian, as is the case of Japan, birthrate, is not keeping up with the number of deaths.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2758366/

England is not all that happy with the influx of former Soviet Bloc immigrants as it is increasing youth

unemployment: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/25/uk-migration-

rise-poland-eurozone

COUPLE OF IMMIGRANT FACTS TO PONDER

Yes, it is indeed a truism that the immigrants often take the most difficult of jobs because no one else wants them.

I overheard a person from Martha’s Vineyard complaining that the Vineyard residents were being pushed out of jobs such as

landscaping and stonework and other such items ‘necessary’ for the well-to-do. Possibly true and what is interesting to think about is

who is paying for the work? It isn’t the immigrants pushing out the residents. It is the residents wanting to pay less.

For anyone interested in reading about some of those difficult jobs early on I recommend David McCullough’s The Great Bridge about

the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.

SO WHO IS DOING THE DIFFICULT JOBS?

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Consider the recent factory collapse in Bangladesh.

Now consider the Shirtwaist Triangle Factory Fire

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/triangle/player

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PLUS ÇA CHANGE, PLUS C'EST LA MÊME CHOSE

At the Tenement Museum in New York City there is a facsimile of a newspaper from the end of the 19th century where almost a full page

is covered with the names of the men who had gone missing.

It was the way that the man would come over from the old country and make enough money to bring his family over to the US. This was

considered noble. Often when the family arrived the wife couldn’t believe the awful conditions and in order to escape the wife and

family, in the days when there were plenty of places to take on new identities, the men just up and left.

Interesting that there is so much concern about the woman from the Philippines who leaves her family to make a better living for everyone.

THE WOMEN OF THE PHILIPPINES

ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS? THIS IS LONDON WHEN COAL WAS KING

THIS IS BEJIING TODAY

The people who immigrate, legally, who were once doctors and lawyers and are now street sweepers, and small bodega

owners and nail salon employees?

Anyone been to an Irish faux pub in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day? Is everyone in there legally here?

The specialized visas and what our educational system could and should be doing to educate our own for these

specialized positions?

AND WHAT ABOUT?

Several years ago we knew a young French woman who had been to Boston once before and wanted to return but needed some kind of a visa. As she was a family friend of a friend I volunteered to go

to the Immigration Office in Boston to find out what she needed.

One of the scariest experiences of my life. For many of the people in that office, having someone ask, and then take away, one’s documents is terrifying as that is what they are fleeing from-

oppressive regimes who take away your documents and then often your life.

One tiny Sister of Charity was walking in and out of the lines and the seats comforting the frightened. I can still feel her compassion.

STANDING IN THE IMMIGRATION LINE

Thank you all for the thoughtful and often passionate responses to this week’s discussion of immigration. It is through your voices that I offer the commentary in these slides and one more 50,000 foot view:

Northeastern has a program in Australia where I have been fortunate to teach and will be returning this summer. The classroom is made up

of multiple nationalities, religions, and languages.

The lessons in that classroom are not just of the subject matter but of engaging Indians to speak with Pakistanis; encouraging young

Chinese and Thai women that they had a voice; that we could all go out for a drink where fruit juice was the primary libation; and that

Ramadan, Diwali and the Jewish High Holidays were within weeks of each other.

In that contained room we experienced globalization and contributed, just a little, to world peace.

THANK YOU