Assignment 2: Trans-National America

Trans-National America

“We are all foreign-born or the descendants of foreign-born, and if distinctions are to be made between us, they should rightly be on some other ground than indigenousness. The early colonists came over with motives no less colonial than the later. They did not come to be assimilated in an American melting pot. They did not come to adopt the culture of the American Indian. They had not the smallest intention of 'giving themselves without reservation' to the new country. They came to get freedom to live as they wanted to. They came to escape from the stifling air and chaos of the old world; they came to make their fortune in a new land. They invented no new social framework. Rather they brought over bodily the old ways to which they had been accustomed.”

In this passage, Randolph S. Bourne explains that we are all foreign born or are progeny of foreign born- and there lies no difference between us whether we have lived in American all of our lives. He explains that early immigrants came with the same intentions as those after them- fortune and freedom; they came seeking what they could not find in their native country.

As an immigrant myself I find this passage to be important because a lot of people seem to ignore the reasons as to why people migrate to America. Many are unaware of the extreme challenges we face in our native countries: government corruption, unfair laws, violence, lack of basic resources such a light and clean water. In cases, we face such poverty that we stop going to school to help support the family. Consequently,  many are not able to find jobs that pay enough to cover bills and food. As a result of this struggle to survive in our country, we migrate to America- in search of a better future and better opportunities for us and our families. We do not come to America to disturb the peace of those who have lived here long before, nor to be ‘Americanized’. Our only desires is to provide for those we love, our family, and better educate ourselves in an effort to have a better future.  We all deserve the right to better opportunities, we are all entitled to have basic human rights.