say french:
who knows what lebanese is?
or syrian? (serbian? siberian?)
protectorate is close to
protector
of course there’s your culture
a tradition of teachers and doctors
an elegant descent
from phoenicians
but
immigration officials
and neighbors
employers
perplexed by exotics
non-anglo-saxon
non-westeuropean-nontoxic
attest
the best are
types here
longer
the immigration official
said to me,
syrian?
what’s
that?
In a recent attempt to outline a periodization for the history of Italian-American radicalism in the United States, Gerald Meyer and the late Philip V.
In 2006, millions of immigrants filled the streets of hundreds of cities to march in opposition to House bill HR 4437 and to call for a fair and just immigration policy. SEIU and UNITE-HERE, along with several other unions, joined in organizing these rallies and mobilizing their members to participate. In 2007, partly in response to this massive outpouring from the Latino and other immigrant communities, liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans fashioned immigration reform legislation and attempted to move it through Congress.
Immigration is clearly emerging as one of the defining issues of the 21st century. The United Nations has estimated that nearly 200 million people live and work outside their native lands today -– a number larger than at any other time in history. Immigration per se is of course not new. Movements of peoples have always existed. What is unprecedented today, however, is the kaleidoscopic diversity of the migrant population, its magnitude, and its rapid growth. The number of migrants indeed has more than doubled since 1975 and is projected to continue to grow on a global scale.1
The earth was created by the assistance of the sun, and it should be left as it was... The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man's business to divide it... -- Chief Joseph, NEZ PERCE
Introduction
Twenty years ago this month, I presented my credentials, in a sealed brown envelope, to the immigration officer on duty at Kennedy International Airport. After a brief interview, I was formally admitted into the United States as a lawful permanent resident. That sealed brown envelope contained a portfolio of documents, declarations and affidavits, including medical records, a chest X-ray and two complete sets of fingerprints, authenticated by the US Consulate in Georgetown, and attesting to the following facts:
Social scientists have developed various paradigms to explain what happens when different cultures encounter each other: assimilation, acculturation, cultural pluralism, the melting pot. Some of these paradigms are theoretical; some purport to describe existing situations; others reflect visions of a better society. Each paradigm has implications for the languages of the respective cultures. These paradigms have been repeatedly applied to the United States, a country formed by colonization and immigration, resulting in significant racial and ethnic diversity.
Is immigration a problem? According to the media it is. According to certain political groups it is. In fact, in most of the rich countries of the world there are lobbies and blocs that oppose immigration on various grounds, in some cases going to great lengths to curtail it. No sooner had the Berlin Wall fallen than the United States was erecting another one between the US and Mexico. The former was to keep people in; the latter, to keep people out.