In support of open Immigration in this country, I am going to give a brief history of my families, I encourage you to do the same.
Maybe if we can all talk about it, or it encourages others to look deeper into their own family history, we can come to the realization that Immigration is something that needs to be free flowing, not restricted venom within this country.
My family history goes back more than most I guess, and less than some. I know I had relatives who fought in the Civil War, for the North.
However the bulk of history starts under my Surname with the Arrival of my Great Grandfather from Sweden.
He came as most did back then, being the young strapping man looking for adventure and a better life for his family.
He would find work as a Cavalry Scout, which would bring him to Montana, there he would create a homestead, start our Ranch and save up money for his father to come over.
The ranch he founded would be riddled with adventure as he would battle often with not only with the notorious Black Feet, but also with the real problem, white Cattle Rustler Bundy types.
My great great grandfather would follow and find work in a mine, I have the sole possession he brought with him, a beautiful crystal butter dish.
Om my mothers side was something of a mixture. My great great Grandmother was a Child Bride in an arranged marriage to am an she had never met. The offer via letters was undoubtable a far, far better life than my family had in the war torn Yugoslavia. You see for centuries that country has been torn apart with petty fighting between the two prominent religions, Catholic and Orthodox.
She would come through Ellis island and marry a miner, have a couple children. Her first husband would be killed in the mine, as would her second. She would raise her 12 children on her own.
I do not know the astuteness of the rest of my moms family, but I do know they were very prominent businessmen within our hometown. Their building still stands with the name down the side, they were by all standings what the American dream was about, very successful. To prove that success, I have my Great Grandmothers phonograph. It was a cutting edge model at the time, the first year they had the horn not visible, it cost a staggering 300 dollars! That was a years wages in 1910, think about that for a minute.
Now mind you this is a brief history, but I wanted to share.
It is important to remember that the bulk of our history comes from people fleeing the wars in Europe, they came as refugees, or simply people to poor to ever have anything in their own country, America was their way up.
It is still that way today. As we fight or battle over the rights of the underprivileged migrants coming to America, and whether or not they are "Deserving" Remember it is an old fight.
Most European Ethnicities hated each other. They hated each other so badly cities were divided up according to ethnicity. It is also where lots of derogatory slang terms came from that we think nothing about today. "Welsh on a bet, Jew him down" etc.
So when someone tells you "Muslims cannot be trusted" tell that person they know not history as Catholics felt that way about protestants, Finish against Swede and everyone were against the Chinese and of course the Irish.
Nevertheless America was and is a country of Migrants, so those doors were always open.
What would end up happening of course from the melting pot would be great Ideas coming together for some amazing things. Tesla was a Immigrant who came to America with his crazy visions of electrical devices, as was Steve Jobs father, who was a Syrian Migrant.
Einstein was a refugee, Imagine our science had he been denied?
Boarder trade is so important, it expedited things you take for granted today such as the lightbulb. That is right, there was great competition abroad over who developed the light bulb, was it invented in America at the Edison research facility, the 3M of today? Or was it created in Britain? Patents are only way of tracing, which still create great arguments as to who was first. All we know for sure, is the great exchange of Ideas, or simply seeing another invention, others spur off it and we advance as a world because of this.
With open boarders, and open trade we will continue to expand and be great, once those two great faucets are closed, a country becomes stale.
you see Multiculturalism is what great Empires thrived on. It is why the legendary Silk Road was created, it is also how Rome and others before it were the greatest civilizations ever. That is my friends the essence of civilization, laws, order and understanding to each other.
I will put forth some links for your consideration. Yes I am putting up a couple of "Fictional Movies" however they are a fairly accurate representation of early America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-YVIEkf6Cg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBZjEnY7CRo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn3e37VWc0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGCxiD4qREM
What is yoru family story? Please share.
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