A Nation of Immigrants

For most of its existence North America did not have humans wandering over the land. Then about fifteen thousand years ago Asians came across the Bering land bridge into what is now Alaska and became the first immigrants into this land. From time to time since then other people from almost every where made it to these shores.

All of us are either descendants of immigrants or are immigrants ourselves. Each group of people have added to the mix that makes us Americans. What a mix it is! We have inter-married or have created babies in such a way that we share a lot of different DNA. This has been a good thing and has proven that there is only one race, the human race.

With this in mind I am amused by the anti-immigration rhetoric going around in this political season. In the American Southwest politicians are calling people from Mexico all kinds of bad names. I remember when we forced a war on Mexico and took their lands the inhabitants were mostly Mexican and native Americans. Anglos were the unwelcome immigrants who didn't bother to learn Spanish.

From the time we founded the USA people have come from all over the world to settle here and help make us what we are. Each new wave of people were met with suspicion and hate. Irish, Italians, Chinese, Poles, Germans and many more met derision and hate from those already established. When ever we act as though the immigrants don't belong here its time to look in the mirror as we are all immigrants.