I'm not an immigrant myself, but my father was. He was born in Nairobi Kenya. I have no idea when he moved here but he is a legal citizen of the united states. My great grandfather was from Germany, he wen by the name of Adolph Tiemann. However, I do think that the immigration thing is getting out of hand. I mean in all honesty, I believe that when we say its a free country, it isn't true. As for my experiences, it sometimes doesn't change much of anything. People are still rude, and they label you as this or that. I think that it has a little bit to do with the fact that Americans aren't used to changes, they don't like changes, and they don't like anyone or anything that is different. When I moved here from Reno Nevada, the school I went to was full of white kids who had never really associated with students of other color or anything like that. That was a great opening for pestering and being made fun of. They used to tell me that I would wipe poop all over my skin and that it just never came off. Rumors fled the school that I was adopted because my mother was white and my father was an African American. They didn't believe that that was real. However, it is real. Sometimes people are still surprised that I have a white mother. It doesn't bother me as much as it did. Also, I have an immigrant step father. He is from Mexico.
With him it is a different story. He thought that everyone in the family should be dropped off in Mexico until we could speak fluent Spanish and we knew the culture like the back of our hand. He would tell us that we weren't allowed to speak English anymore and that it was a Mexican family now. And yet, when I asked him if we could learn a little about my own culture, he responded with, "Black people are just stupid people that dance around a fire speaking monkey language and they should all go back to Africa where they came from." I'll never forget those words, and I'll never forgive my mother for agreeing with him.
In my eyes there are two types of immigrants. The first type is the pushy type. They believe in forcing their heritage on others around them, attempting to dominate those around them. They don't like it when you cook the wrong food, speak the wrong language or admire people who aren't a part of their culture. I believe that if they are so hell bent on living their culture, they should go back where they came from. Its like they haven't even left in the first place. Then there is type two. They are the type that come to America looking for a fresh start. They maybe had it rough where they came from or they are just looking to settle in America. They do their best to learn our language, our culture without fully letting go of their own. Nor do they push their language or culture on others. I feel that those are the people that deserve to stay. They are willing to earn a living just like us, working just like us. Their children deserve equal education. Not that the others don't, it's just that if they aren't willing to learn our culture and language, or they have a bad attitude about it, why force them?
I think that we should be willing to see the good on all immigrants. I believe that it shouldn't matter where they came from because we are all people. People who do the best we can everyday. Doing what we think is right and doing are best to keep it that way. Striving to do right. I think that we shouldn't push everyone away because some of them are really good people who would like a chance to work and earn a living like us so we should help them out the best way that we can. In school, if they need help I think that we should help them and keep our crude comments to our self because it could really mess some one up. Take it from some one who knows a bit about it. It's not like we can help where, why, or from whom we were born. It's not like we can disobey our parents and refuse to be brought up a certain way. I think that people should earn their respect, but we should at least be polite on the way there.
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