On New Year’s Day this year, there was a story about immigration from Sudan published in The Chronicle. Within the story was this paragraph:
“(Lewis County Commissioner Scott) Brummer said the (immigration) issue is apolitical, ‘yet we see at our border, the statistics as of yesterday, we’re up to 10,000 migrants coming across the border per day. 2.4 million have come across this year alone.’”
“You’ve got somebody who is working hard and has got his citizenship and has been doing everything right,” Brummer said.
Immediately, my thoughts went to my stepmom, Olinda. She is a refugee from one of the countries that a former president refers to as a “sh-t hole.” El Salvador was in the middle of a U.S.-backed civil war. Olinda made the difficult decision to leave her two boys with family and made the dangerous journey here, to the southern border and into the United States.
Eventually, Olinda, a proud union cafeteria worker, met my dad, Dave, a proud union carpenter and military veteran, at a local laundromat. It was love at first sight, and they soon married. Olinda gained citizenship, and finally was able to bring her two boys, Juan Carlos and Edward, here. Before Olinda, dad was a troubled Three Percenter, conspiracy believer and Evangelical John Bircher. It was rough on the family, as he was untrusting and kind of paranoid. Having finally found love with Olinda, he transitioned into a thoughtful and kind husband to, and advocated for refugees and immigrants everywhere.
Only about one in 10 people are indigenous to this soil, having roots going back 40,000 years, 60,000 years or even longer. They are the survivors of disease, massacre and genocide brought forth by immigrant settlers and pioneers.
The rest of us? Just like Olinda, roughly 90% of us are immigrants and descendants of immigrants.
Speaking on refugees and immigrants, this is from the former president's recent Iowa campaign speech, but also from speeches in 1930s Germany. Similar statements by similar men:
“They’re poisoning the blood of our country.”
“They're coming from insane asylums.”
“They’re vermin.”
“We will begin the largest deportation in history.”
During his time in office, he was the only president in history to deny legal immigration the way he did, standing between and against U.S. citizens and their loved ones.
Immigration is a political issue. Depending on what you hope for, it matters who you vote for.
Thank you, friends. Wishing you all a good day.
Ray Chapman-Wilson
Centralia
