"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!"
The above famous words find their home on the statue of liberty they were pinned by Emma Lazarus as part of her sonnet The New Colossus. At the turn of the last century a young man only 14 years of age arrived in New York harbor alone having left his home in the town of Formazza Italy several months before. Giuseppe "Joseph" Matli spoke no english and had nothing but the clothes on his back. He was able to come to America as "a bird of passage" a person on a short term work visa intended for short stays in America after which the person returned to Italy. However my Great Great Grandfather never left the country he came to call home. He worked hard all of his life eventually settling in northern Arizona with his wife and children. According to my Grandma he never did learn much english but was proud when after many years he received his official American citizenship. my Grandma never went into great detail but she did tell me that when Giuseppe later going by the more Americanized Joseph arrived not everyone was happy that more Italians where arriving in America and he faced discrimination. After doing some research I found phrases like "descendants of bandits and assassins" and "dirty thieves" in print from stories about Italian immigrants around the turn of the last century. There were even calls for the lynching of Italian immigrants and sadly some where carried out.
I can't imagine what it was like for Giuseppe being only 14 and all alone in a new country not able to speak any english facing hate and discrimination. It would have been easiest for him to get back on a boat and head home but I'm sure glad he didn't. He worked hard and saw his American dream through.
Why am I writing this now telling you all about Giuseppe? Because we all have a Giuseppe or a Pablo or a Bao. We all came from immigrants who at one time or another in this nation's history were the "other" the group no one wanted to let in. In the last few days I've been seeing in my feed headlines from articles posted like
BREAKING: They’re Here! First Load of 10,000 Syrian ‘Refugees’ Has Arrived in New Orleans…
which by the way is completely false the real number if your ready for it is 13. Yes, 13 that's how many Syrian refugees have arrived in Louisiana this year. The article goes on to predict the horrors to come when we let these immigrants in. It breaks my heart to read postings and articles that say we should refuse entry to war refugees or any immigrant of the Muslim faith. It wasn't all that long ago that someone you called Papa or Zadie or Yaya came here to build the American dream. Let's keep that dream alive and help others to achieve it!
