THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS (Opinion)
By Joey Kennedy
October 14, 2012
http://blog.al.com/jkennedy/2012/10/joey_kennedy_new_york_is_a_cit.html
Veronica and I spent Saturday morning on Ellis Island, the gateway to America for immigrants from the late 1800s through the 1920s. People from other nations wanting to come to the United States had to pass through Ellis Island before they were given the papers they needed to become citizens.
Well, not all people. Immigrants with means -- money or education or connections -- never saw Ellis Island, unless they glimpsed it as they entered New York Harbor, under the torch of Lady Liberty. Those folks had a free pass.
Poor immigrants, though, had to be processed through Ellis Island, where they were given medical exams, questioned about their solvency and screened for their political beliefs before being allowed in. More than 12 million immigrants came through Ellis Island during the years it operated.
The Ellis Island experience is moving. People from nations around the world wanted to have what we take for granted -- freedom, opportunity, the American Dream. We are a nation of immigrants. If you're not a Native American, your ancestors came here from somewhere else. That's why I don't understand our xenophobia in Alabama, where we've passed a cruel immigration law that makes undocumented people afraid to live their lives.
You don't see that in New York City, where people from all nationalities live and work and prosper. English may be our language, but here, English is often just a suggestion.
Our overreaching Alabama immigration law forces immigrants to go underground, to hide and hope they don't do something to draw attention to themselves. The richness of diversity is interrupted by a law that prohibits undocumented people from renting an apartment or opening a business or just living their lives with their families, many of whom are blended with bonafide U.S. citizens.
These good people seek what we all want: freedom, opportunity and the American Dream. Sadly, in Alabama, we've made that American Dream a nightmare -- and too many of us are proud of that.
Immigrants made our nation what it is. Why are we, in Alabama, afraid of them? We should welcome them. Help them. Let them live their lives, as our ancestors lived theirs, in the joy and wonder of a country that values diversity and opportunity for all of those who seek it.
In the history of our great nation, Ellis Island plays a small role over a short period. But the idea of Ellis Island includes all of those people who want what we have as Americans. Who are we to withhold that from any person? We were all once there ourselves.
Have we forgotten? Do we care?
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