World Wide Welcome
by
Sam Wilson
Give me your tired,
your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free... The policeman
forced us against the wall and made us stand outside in a single file line.
He continued, with another officer, to strip us of our jackets and barked
at us to empty our pockets. He jerkily ran his hands along our bodies and
jackets, checking for guns, knives, drugs -- even scissors. I thought that
this was the kind of thing that happened to innocent people in Thailand
or maybe China -- anywhere but here.
The wretched refuse of
your teeming shore... After the search, people were herded like cattle
into a small, cold room with an American flag that dominated half of the
gray wall. One by one, they proceeded to be humiliated by a public interrogation.
They were given forms to fill out. The officer told one that if he did
not speak English well enough to fill out the form, then he should not
be a citizen of the United States.
Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tost [sic] to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! My
father was becoming a citizen of this great country, and we were at his
naturalization "ceremony." At least the rest of my family was -- I hadn't
gotten past the strip search. Without an ID, I was considered a threat
to security; complete with my dangerous fifty-dollar tie and thirty-dollar
Dockers pants. At least the car was warm.
God bless America, my
home sweet home. Walking back to the car in the freezing cold, I hummed
"God Bless America." I don't consider myself a foreigner in this country
-- I was born in England but raised here. I have a dual citizenship and
I speak without any trace of an accent. During the Olympics I stand with
my mom and cheer for America, as my British father sulks at English losses.
At the naturalization ceremony, however, I was put in the unusual position
of being seen as foreign while knowing that I am not foreign and knowing
what "ordinary" American people are treated like. We are not herded like
cattle. We are not randomly strip-searched, and our 16-year-old children
are not forced onto the freezing-cold street as the rest of our family
proceeds into the warmth of a building.
My country 'tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty. This was a naturalization ceremony -- every
person in the room wanted to be a citizen of this country, they wanted
to be a part of this great nation that extends its loving hand across the
globe. In fact, many people come to the United States to escape the persecution
of their governments. Many are fleeing from governments like those in Thailand,
or China perhaps -- where innocent people are abused and human rights are
nonexistent; where the law is the police and the police are corrupt. The
United States beckons with outstretched hands and a seemingly warm heart.
Perhaps the way we were
treated was okay to everyone else. Perhaps this is how foreigners have
always been treated and this is better then where they are coming from.
Perhaps. But I know better. I know that our government has the capacity
to treat its people with dignity and respect. But why then were we treated
like animals? Why did they assume we were guilty until proven innocent
-- that we had something worth searching our jackets for? Why was I thrown
outside?
To that police officer,
I was seen as a foreigner, and foreigners are seen as different. No matter
how open and friendly our doors may seem, the fact remains the same: foreigners
are different and Americans don't like different. Even in this great bouillabaisse
of intermingled cultures, America is no longer a new country and being
American now means a new identity where our ancestors may have been foreign
but we are not.
O'er the land of the
free, and the home of the brave. But how can we forget our past and
our heritage? We have to begin to realize that immigrants in this country,
and especially those that desire to be citizens, are part of this country
and should be treated as such. Our extended hands must embrace everyone
to a warm and beating heart and we must cherish foreign influence as the
means of enhancing our culture and improving our society. Everyone should
be equal, whether you are "American," Chinese, Mexican, or Arab. We live
in a democracy -- for the people, by the people. And that means everyone.
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