31 January 2018

Refugees


Being a child of immigrant refugees, I am perhaps particularly acutely concerned with the issues around immigration reform. Being an immigrant myself, having moved from the US to Ireland, I have a degree of understanding of what it takes to pick up and leave. I did not listen to Trump's State of the Union address but read highlights of the 80 minutes of speech making. I also read Kennedy's response. Kennedy's was so much more uniting and idealistic and hopeful. And then someone posted this poem by Brian Bilston called Refugees. It hit on something I've always said. There's no truth, only a point of view.



Read the poem and think about refugees. Not colonists like the British who devastated the Native American population or the conquistadors who decimated the Maya and Inca, or the European missionaries and fortune hunters who enslaved Africans. Think about all those who fled oppression to give their children a chance to survive and thrive. They didn't choose to leave like I did. They had to leave. I do not condone illegal immigration and all those who simply overstay their visas and break the laws of the countries they adopt. I do support the belief that anyone can be an American. I am a citizen of Ireland, but I can never be Irish; yet I will always remain American.

No comments:

Post a Comment