Photo credit: Shelley Panzerella
Flickr.com
I accidentally stumbled upon this quote on Flickr today. When I say accidentally, I mean I was looking through pictures and my computer mouse decided to click on it, so I figured if my mouse wants the quote, then I might as well take a look. I happened to find it really interesting.
It's a quote that the artist took from a trip to Ellis Island and it's a quote from a Polish-Jewish immigrant. It says:
"They asked us questions. 'How much is two and one? How much is two and two?' But the next young girl also from our city, went and they asked her, 'How do you wash stairs, from the top or from the bottom?' She says, 'I don't go to America to wash stairs.'"
I found this quote completely fascinating because I was dumb struck for a second. I have to wonder how old this girl was when she responded with something like this, and I have to wonder what the expression was on the face of the person asking the question. But the girl has a point. Who actually came here to America to clean stairs and do menial jobs?
I also find some of the tests they gave immigrants to be completely ridiculous. What does washing stairs have anything to do with literacy and knowledge of the country you're about to enter? I know it was probably meant to be a critical thinking question, but seriously, what kind of question is that?
Haven't we always been told that our ancestors came to America to create better lives for themselves and their families for future generations to come? I have to wonder why they were treated so poorly then, just because they were immigrants. Having family who came over from Germany, Italy, and all over Europe really, it makes me wonder what my family members had to do so that I could be where I am now.
I guess you can say that it touches my heart to think about this subject. We have lots of mixed emotions about immigration now, yet we didn't seem to think it was such a problem back then. I firmly believe that if you're coming to this country to work hard and earn your living then you should be allowed to enter, but that's just me. Most of the immigrants that came here in the early 1900's, like my relatives, came with the American dream in mind, the dream that anybody could be dirt poor and work their way up to a satisfying and wealthy life. What happened to that dream?
It's a sad thing when you really think about it. People who came here with such great dreams now live in poverty due to our poor economy and a government that just can't see to get its act together. We all work every day just struggling to get by; it's almost as if their immigration was in vain anyway. It is terribly sad.
I only hope that the girl who said this lived a long, fulfilling life and that her family appreciates her choice to come to America. I know I appreciate my great grandparents' decisions to come to America for if they had not I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be getting the education I need to succeed in my life and I wouldn't have the wonderful opportunities and freedoms that I take for granted every day.
All I can say is thank you, even if you can't hear me now.
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