In reading Peter Kwong’s discussion on the U.S. Immigration Debate, I was struck by an issue fundamental to most immigration-centric considerations: more often than not, we overlook humanitarian aspects for economic concern. We gloss over the fact that migrants are as human as us yet allow the forces of supply and demand dictate their well-being. In doing so, we reinforce “us vs. them” mentalities and demonize all that separates us rather than highlight similarity or embrace diversity. In a New York Time article titled “My Father’s Gift to Me,” Nicholas Kristof quotes his father:
War, want and concentration camps, exile from home and homeland, these have made me hate strife among men, but they have not made me lose faith in the future of mankind… If man has been able to create the arts, the sciences and the material civilization we know in America, why should he be judged powerless to create justice, fraternity and peace?
Kristof’s father maintains hope in America’s future despite histories rife with discrimination, looking to the arts and sciences to provide impetus for progress.
It seems to me that he might find solutions in fields such as these for their inclusive nature. There are no ethnic requirements to transform paper into prose, no cultural limitations to understanding metabolic processes. When we begin to shift our perspectives, viewing all peoples in the context of immense potential, what separates us? Is it so terrifying to consider global collaboration towards widespread improvement that we must preemptively reduce a significant proportion of our own kind to below human standards?
I often listen to a podcast called “On Being,” which is hosted by Krista Tippett and explores conversations surrounding the essence of existence – principally, what it means to be human. During one episode, guest Seth Godin mentions an inverse problem encountered by a community college educator, namely that they “have to let in everybody” whether or not they are academically – particularly artistically – inclined. Trent Gilliss, senior editor of the podcast, reflects on Godin’s experiences and meshes them with those of Wick Sloane, a community college professor of English. Sloane offers an exercise to his primarily immigrant students: write their own version of Walt Whitman’s ‘I Hear America Singing.’ They return insightful reflections on their experience as Americans, what they consider ‘American’ to mean. They prove that not only is art accessible to all who consider themselves human, but that approaching existence from different perspectives is key to understanding our place in the world and respecting the places of others. We have no permission to determine other’s experiences or expect them to remain passive as cogs in the capitalist machine we call America.
Sources:
