Immigrants made America great

I absently googled the name of a cousin and found he'd established quite the internet presence. He's got a TV show and a book coming out. He's not somebody I'm tight with, but I see him at the occasional family reunion. That got me thinking about how us immigrants and children of immigrants have fared in the new land(s).

He and I have a common great-grandmother. She had the good luck of making it to the USA before the WW II. She gave birth twelve times, but only three of her kids made it to adulthood; Lotte, Amelia, and Hilda.

Amelia followed her to the US. Lotte and Hilda ended up in Canada.

The next generation produced the first university graduates, an engineer and a Ph.D. in history who became a professor.

Then came my generation. More university grads. My cousin Tommy had the distinction of bringing the first brown baby to the family picnic. What was a novelty thirty years ago doesn't even raise an eyebrow these days. The Aryan offspring of my dear great grandmother have proven themselves willing and able to copulate with all creeds and all races, which I find rather a happy thing.

By the time the next generation rolled around, a university degree was the norm. We've got chefs and trades guys too, but we've also got a smattering of millionaire business folks and that Mexican kid with the Italian name.

That's the family tree of my extended immigrant family.


The guy who did my cataract surgery was a Muslim. My doctor is a Jew. The doctor who saved my son's life during a difficult childbirth was a black dude from Ethiopia...


So, what exactly is the problem with immigrants?...