Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Immigration is not a matter for politicians to debate. It is a matter that is deeply, profoundly moral. Nothing will condemn us more, in the sight of God, than in the way that we treat strangers and foreigners.
Especially concerning to me is the recent idea of language regulation through the declaration of an “official language.” My own county, Spotsylvania County in Virginia, shamefully approved such a thing.
There is nothing more appalling than the degradation of language– any language– for the purposes of political gain.
I know it’s hyperbolic– I know it’s melodramatic– but I can’t help remembering the concept of language as expressed in Orwell’s 1984. That one day, all expression, all thought, all communication will be able to be summed up by two words: Big Brother. I’m afraid– perhaps baselessly– that this movement to route other languages elsewhere, is the first step to that sort of final solution.
Ironically, I think the fastest way to encourage folks to embrace English is to embrace them in our stead.
Of course, it is vaguely uncomfortable to learn that a person you love, who has helped your family and who you have helped in turn, was actually an illegal alien for lo these many years. Kind of like the time a friend in high school signed my yearbook right before the teacher signed it, and before I had a chance to see their tribute “To Meg – thanks for letting me copy off you during history tests!!”
I don’t mind English being declared an official language unless the corollary is to deny use of any other language. I live in Fairfax County where the five students in my daughter’s special needs class spoke four different languages at home, the bathrooms are labeled with instructions in seemingly ten languages, and the cafeteria is decorated with the dozens of flags celebrating the non-US origins of the students. Of 164,843 total students (largest county school system in VA, 13th largest in the United States, county with 2nd highest median family income in the US (Loudon, VA, was first)) we have 22,000 ESOL (English for Speakers of Other languages) students, and the website (http://www.fcps.edu/about.htm) has links to versions of the information in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese (I’m sure other languages are also available).
Summary – small minded, bigoted, and ghettoized peoples go protectionist. And they protect themselves into irrelevancy. IMHO. But thus speaks a woman whose parents’ marriage was considered void and prohibited in the state of my birth at the time of my birth because it was interracial. So perhaps I have more than mere Christian motives for desiring a state that respects and honors all peoples, and treats even those it deports with dignity.
First of all, sorry your post didn’t show up right away, Megan– I’ve got my spam filter set to catch anything with a link in it. It just makes it easier to admin the site.
Second– hmm. I’m really opposed to ANY reasons for declaring English the official language. If the schools have to label the bathroom ten different ways, I say go for it. One of the points that I took away from Jared Diamond’s brilliant Guns, Germs, and Steel is that cultures that are forced to mingle become stronger cultures. Societies that are monolithic in nature tend towards implosion. Like British royalty’s genetic problems… 🙂
“Immigration is not a matter for politicians to debate. It is a matter that is deeply, profoundly moral. Nothing will condemn us more, in the sight of God, than in the way that we treat strangers and foreigners.”
Scoot, my man, I ain’t even the theistical-type and once again we find ourselves in the same place in that bountiful land of agreements-ville.
And now you’ve gone and reminded me Ty told me I should read ‘GG&S’ and I told him I would, after I already went and jumped into a study of two separate translations of an ancient language I only barely understand how to translate myself. Oy.
Thanks for the reminder, though. Now I know what to ask of my family for a holidy gift! 🙂