“Your grandmother was an immigrant too.”

Blog #3
November 5,2010

“Your grandmother was an immigrant too.”

Two months into my journey, yet I haven’t written in awhile. Nothing to say? Not quite, the opposite actually. Life has been very eventful here including many trials and frustrations. While I could use this opportunity to rant about school, midterms, and how the stores are ALWAYS closed, I won’t. I started this blog as an outlet to express my feelings, a way to document this experience, and most importantly a channel to focus on key issues. Complaining about temporal things, as valid as those complaints may be, will not lead me to the truth and self-discovery I desire.

Today I want to talk about immigrants. Essentially that’s what all of us studying here are. Granted I’m in a different boat because of dual-citizenship, but at heart, this is not my ‘home’. What is an immigrant? A person who moves to another country other than their own to work or live (or study!) Or an immigrant; people who look different, act different, speak a different language, and don’t ‘belong’ in your country. How can such a simple noun have so many suggested and implied meanings? Is it a product of our times and current events, reality or skewed perceptions?

I bring up this topic because these questions have haunted me on my travels this past month (Geneo, Rome, and Venice). From the words out of my peer’s mouths to the daily buzz on the street, when did it become a word meaning Arab, African, Hispanic…or basically any other diversely looking ‘non-white’ individual.

For those who know me well back home, this has always been a hot-topic of discussion for me; something very dear to my heart. Why you may ask? I guess because it touches close to home because of my heritage, and I think these Italians often forget that. I think us Americans ALWAYS forget that. I titled this entry “Your grandmother was an immigrant too” (from a Michael Franti song) because I think we often forget as a people that we live in a country that was completely formed on the idea of immigration and diversity. While we had some huge mistakes along the way; treatment of Native Americans, slavery, internment camps, civil/gender rights…..but nonetheless, American is not an ethnicity choice on an application for a reason, it’s a nationality.

I guess the reason I’m so upset is because history repeats itself. How ignorant for Italians (and us Americans) to forget the struggle of OUR ancestors. Somewhere down the line… “Your grandmother was an immigrant too”. Or in my case even closer in the line; my parents. How foolish to forget that when Italians mass migrated via boat on steerage (less than a 3rd class passenger) to America to seek work, a better life, and to escape the problems of a ‘broken’ new Italy, they were treated horribly upon arrival. Some didn’t even make it that far and were turned back after spending their last cent on the journey because they didn’t fit the ‘criteria’ set by the U.S. (limits were put into place so that Southern or darker featured Italians could not enter the country as easily as Northern, light skinned Italians…FACT). At that point, many Italians found ways to enter the U.S. illegally. They were labeled derogatory names such as guini, WOP, greaseballs, and accused of stealing jobs that able-bodied Americans needed. They were forced to live in tenements (shit-hole apartment buildings) because that’s all they could afford, which were overcrowded and unsanitary. They couldn’t speak English right away, often taking a generation or two for the family to be fluent in the new language. They were judged and looked down on because of this barrier. Many Italians in desperation turned to the black-market, working off-the-books, and even organized crime just to ‘catch a break’ in this lose-lose situation.

Is any of this starting to sound familiar yet? How quickly we forget. Fast-forward to today, and most Italians are normal, functioning parts of society. Italian cuisine and words are fused into American culture. The once stereotypes that made life a living hell are now used for comedic purposes and silly jabs (even though they still bother me tremendously….such as the Jersey Shore).

I guess what I’m trying to say is…… before you judge, before you use a racial slur, before you categorize someone as an ‘illegal immigrant’ without knowing the status of their residency, before you accuse them of stealing jobs and ruining American culture, before you say they are lazy for not learning English immediately (I’ve been studying Italian for 10 years and am still struggling)……take a step back. Understand that your ancestors, whether it was a few years ago, or 100 years ago, were in the exact same boat. Maybe from this perspective, we could find ways to address the issues that immigration does cause for both the citizens of that country, and the immigrants themselves, in manner that respects human rights and dignity, and actually fixes some of the problems for the next generation.

Jackie <3