When We Help Immigrants, We Help Ourselves
And some of the benefits are immediate
Almost all of us who are not immigrants, are descended from
immigrants. The United States was built by immigrants and it
will always be a country of immigrants. When we think of
Chinese, Italians, Germans, English, French, etc. we picture
distinct people, cultures, food and languages.
When we think of Americans, we picture a combination of all the
other countries. And it is always changing. When people used to
picture Americans they saw white people from England, Germany
and Scandinavia and the black people descended from slaves. Then
Irish, Italian and Jewish immigrants came; at that time none of
these people were thought of as white. Asian immigrants came
next and now the picture we have of Americans is becoming more
Spanish speaking and from Latin America.
Throughout our country's history, there have always been
residents who thought the country was full or didn't need people
from certain countries. They seemed to believe, "I'm OK, you're
not". But the bravest, strongest, most determined,
entrepreneurial people from poor countries took a huge chance
and moved here to build a better life for themselves. In the
process they built a better country for all of us.
If you moved to a new country, what would you do if you knew
only a few words of the language and even less of the laws and
customs? You would probably first ask your friends, who often
wouldn't know the right answers. Then you might make several
attempts to do something and then perhaps give up entirely. Then
you would find out the hard way (tickets, fines, evictions,
school suspensions) that you did something wrong. New immigrants
are trying to adapt to life here and struggle every day to fit
in.
When immigrants succeed, we all benefit. Some of the benefits
are immediate: helping someone in the checkout line at the
grocery store to understand the instructions or make change,
helps the line move faster. If we speak slowly and help them
learn some English, everything in our daily lives works better.
Learning a new language is very difficult, but they won't be
able to assimilate if they don't learn English. Some people say
that these newcomers are stupid or not willing to learn the
rules, while they probably are just not able to understand the
language or the rules.
If we are friendly and welcoming to new neighbors, they will
learn how to fit in and there will be less friction. If there is
a neighborhood meeting, take them along. Many of them come from
entirely different cultures and have to be shown how to fit into
ours.
Tell them about open house and parent-teacher meetings at the
local school. Their country's schools might not have wanted the
parents to be involved and they don't understand how important
it is here. Your children's schools will be better schools if
more of the parents are involved and help out. Your children
will learn about other countries and cultures from these parents
and students, too.
If there is a fire or weather emergency, check on them. Many of
them don't know where to go or who to ask about phone and
electric service they have lost. They don't know there are
shelters and help available. Keeping your neighbors safe will
make your neighborhood better and maybe they will be helping you
next time. A close community of good neighbors has less crime
and drugs and other dangerous activities.
In other words, do the same things for these newcomers that you
would want them to do for you if you were new residents in their
country. This is also called The Golden Rule.
This is our country, we have a right and a responsibility to
help new residents learn how to live here. They won't learn by
seeing resentment and hatred on our faces. They will learn by
example and friendliness. We will all be happier and we will all
benefit when these immigrants become Americans, just like our
immigrant ancestors did.