Post article about Korean Church in Annandale

By: mjp
Published On: 3/11/2007 10:48:38 PM

In Today's Post, there was an article about the apprehension at the building of a large Korean church in Fairfax county. A lot of the concerns are about the traffic that will be caused by such a development, all very valid and interesting. However, there was one paragraph which really struck me. One of the interviewees


points across the street to one of several strip shopping cetners dominated by Korean businesses in town. "I talk to people, and they don't feel comfortable, especially when they see all the name changes to Korean...This is America; it's not Korea."

Whenever I see a newspaper article like this, I always hope that the person is being quoted out of context, because it pains me that people still think this way. Since the dawning of America, there was always this concept of what makes something "American." But really, what kind of shops is this person looking for? One with an Italian name? A Greek name? A British name? What?

Ninety years ago, people complained about the nationality of my ancestors (and yours). They didn't like what they did to the neighborhood. They created too much change. They weren't "American."  Sometimes, I can't believe we still think this way in the 21st century.

Comments



Unfortunately (Ingrid - 3/11/2007 11:03:02 PM)
the person was probably not taken out of context.  During my campaign in 2003, I ran into a gentleman who, after I reminded him that he, too, was a descendant of immigrants, replied "Yes, but that was different".  Bigotry is alive and well.


Children of Detained and Deported Immigrants (PM - 3/12/2007 8:52:54 AM)
Ingrid, you're absolutely right about people forgetting their grandparents were immigrants. 

"Oh, that's different," they say.

Maybe what they're saying is -- "But my grandparents were from Europe and that's different."  Translation:  "My grandparents were white."

I've always said that we never would have invaded a European country the way we did Iraq when such flimsy evidence was presented and when the UN inspectors weren't given time to finish their jobs.  My ancestors were from the Ukraine.  Can you imagine if Bush had said we were going to invade Kiev?  He would have been hooted down.  Or Dublin?

Now, to the headlined topic -- what happens to the children of deported immigrants?  After all, they're U.S. citizens if born here.  Well, they get to stay, sans parent.

http://www.wtopnews....

Three million American-born children have at least one parent who is an illegal immigrant; one in 10 American families has mixed immigration status, meaning at least one member is an immigrant here illegally, according to the Pew Center for Hispanic Research and the office of U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano. Children born in the U.S. are automatically American citizens and are not subject to deportation.

This past week in Massachusetts, most of the 361 workers picked up in a raid at a New Bedford leather-goods factory that made vests and backpacks for the U.S. military were women with children, setting off what Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick called a "humanitarian crisis."

I know, I know, people against immigration will argue you shouldn't let the legality of the children bootstrap the illegal parent into citizenship.

But as the richest nation in the world, with population density HALF that of Afghanistan, we can do better.



Yep, you got it! (Ingrid - 3/12/2007 12:20:01 PM)
That's exactly what "that was different" means.  During that same 2003 campaign, I knocked on a door, a woman opens the door, and before I could say anything, she said "I don't need a maid".  Talk about bias!