A mother, father and three-year-old daughter sit at their dinner table in Odessa, Ukraine. The daughter is named Dasha. She is a miracle, as her mother, Irina, had a very difficult pregnancy that caused her to be bedridden for most of the nine months.
Misha, the father, is under-employed. He was a marine engineer. He is old and Jewish. In a country in which anti-Semitism is rampant, that combination is deadly in an economy that has sunk to the bottom of the Black Sea after the fall of communism.
Irina works. She is also a marine engineer and brilliant. She is young. She is not Jewish.
In the middle of dessert, they receive a call from the United States Embassy congratulating them for winning the lottery. Misha hangs up thinking it's a joke. The phone rings again and the same scenario repeats. This time Misha allows the disembodied voice to finish his sentences. After the call, he looks at Irina, eyes blazing, unable to speak. After a moment, he revives and tells his wife that they have won the American lottery. A Green Card. They must prepare to go to New York in three weeks.
Misha and Irina dance around the table. Their French bulldog completes the circle, as Dasha bangs her spoon on her plate.
They never entered the lottery.
The next day, when Irina speaks with her friend, Tania, she finds out that Tania entered their names into the lottery without their knowledge. Her friend just wanted them to have a chance at a decent life, given that they had a miracle baby.
The family lands at J.F.K. on a hot August day, along with their library and beloved bulldog. Misha tells Irina he is glad he got his girls to America. American relatives have rented a nice, one-bedroom apartment at an affordable rent in a prewar building in Brighton Beach.
Ten days after they move to their new freedom, Misha dies of a massive heart attack in an elevator while holding Dasha's hand as she frantically tries to understand what has happened. She fails to grasp the event, but knows her father's heart no longer breathes. She immediately becomes mute, shocked in a strange land with stranger customs and a foreign language that she does not speak.
Irina, upon hearing the news that the love of her life has expired, walks for months dazed. It is her child who cares for her and keeps her alive. After Irina uses all her money to bury her husband in a "poor man's" cemetery, she gradually regains her footing and does what is necessary to keep her daughter healthy She enrolls Dasha in a preschool at the local Y.M.H.A. so she can work. Dasha is still mute, but she is well cared for and nurtured by her teachers.
Life continues. Dasha and Irina recover from their trauma. One day, Irina meets a woman named Leah who becomes her close friend and who shows her the means of survival. Leah is also from Odessa and has a family.
Leah cares for Irina and Dasha. Irina eventually meets an American man who falls in love with mother and child. He accelerates Irina's integration into New York culture. He is an artist who notes that Dasha has true talent. Dasha speaks with him. He helps Irina find the right school for Dasha -- a special school for talented children, a pre-conservatory/academic program based in Manhattan. Dasha auditions amongst 5,000 other children and enters the program that accepts just 25 students that year. She begins studying violin and piano. Ultimately, she focuses on piano. She flourishes.
When Dasha is in fifth grade, Irina asks the young American to help her once again find an appropriate school for Dasha. He recommends several, but especially a school located near Gracie Mansion that is considered one of the top academic programs in the country. Dasha gets in and is given a full scholarship. Irina moves to a housing project not far from Dasha's new school. They are close to Central Park and Museum Mile. Both are destined to become Dasha's new playground. Dasha proceeds to get straight A's and becomes the youngest winner of the concerto competition at her pre-college conservatory.
Dasha is now a senior in high school and has applied to several top universities. She awaits their responses. Irina's English is flowing. Irina has tutored Dasha throughout her childhood, preparing her for excellence. With an incandescent heart she works 12-hour days, five or six days a week, just to keep Dasha healthy and clothed.
When you hear someone talk about how we can't afford to have any more immigration to this country, why not remind that person that we cannot deprive our country of the talents, love and commitment that new immigrants bring to our culture. Invoke the names of Irina and Dasha.
In New York harbor, a lady illuminates the sky.
Addendum: Dasha recently chose to go to Princeton. She is to receive a full scholarship. Only in America.
Rep. Mike Honda: Immigration Memo to Republicans: Don't Mess With the Constitution
U.S. Businesses Everywhere: Are Your Immigration Papers In Order?
Senate panel kills House-approved bills targeting illegal immigration
What Americans mostly oppose is ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. People who The people who neither sought or got permission to come to America complain because they feel unwelcome. Rightfully perhaps they should.
America is built on immigration, but like any country in the modern world, they like to have some idea of who is here. Mexico, the biggest sender of unregistered foreigners, is grappling with passing laws for their own security that they called America "racist" for thinking about.
Immigrants have and can help improve this country and many should be welcomed. But it helps to remember the difference between legal foreign guests the people who came without permission.
If we can stop the flow of unregistered foreigners it is possible Americans will be more accepting of the ones who do it the right way and should be welcomed. After all, nobody likes invaders.
So than why are letting all the illiterate from Africa, Somalia and countries like that in including potential Islamic terrorists?
I wouldn't call it civilization. More accurately you might call it evolution.
Jack- You provided a nice story in this article. Thanks
You wrote, "As a culture we have forgotten what it takes to come to our country...gain one's footing in a foreign culture."
Many American oligarchs forget about the need at home.
Ignoring what is around them, only seeing those abroad.
Telling themselves stereotypes of homeless in the USA, myths that need to be stopped
http://news.change.org/stories/you-too-can-be-a-homelessness-myth-buster
How often are American oligarchs reminded of this?
"A shocking 37 million Americans live in poverty [2006; before GreatRecession.] That is 12.7 per cent of the population - the highest percentage in the developed world."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/feb/19/usa.paulharris
Poverty in America is much worse in 2011.
Do the top 10% of the USA and the elites forget that?
Should the percentage in poverty in America grow to the size it is abroad before the American oligarchy stops forgetting?
Does the American oligarchy have tunnel vision?
How do they so easily forget what is within 20 miles of them?
A deadbeat dad, or mom, is known for ignoring your home responsibility, while venturing somewhere else.
A judicial court orders the deadbeat to stop, who orders the elites in the USA to stop?
Here is an article you might find interesting.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_changing_face_of_poverty_in_america
I will say this, however. I believe that history has its tides and undertow. What seems to be apparent is just the surface, so in this day of draconian budget cuts and "so be it" attitudes, I am sure an undertow is gaining strength. How that manifests, we shall see.
You wrote, "a xenophobic ambiance gripping the country, I wanted to counter that..."
xenophobia
intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/xenophobia?view=uk
Duplicity?
It is the USA oligarchs & elites that have an intense and irrational dislike of:
> Americans that funded their wealth and voted them into their elite position
> Americans that are told, "Unemployed need not apply!"
Facts:
1) LegalPermanentResidency or GreenCard flow toUSA in 2007 is the highest level EVER
[Figure 1,
Remove this from graph,
"The spike in legal immigration around 1990 reflects the legalization of 2.7 million unauthorized immigrants under the ImmigrationReform & ControlAct of 1986."]
(http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/lpr_fr_2009.pdf )
2) "During2009, there were 163 million foreign national admissions to the USA according to DHS."(Pg 1 http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ni_fr_2009.pdf)
3) Foreign nationals entered the USA at the highest level ever in recent years [Figure 1 (Ibid) ]
4) "Visa admissions 1989 to 2009, more than doubled from 16 million to 36 million." (Pg3, Ibid)
5) 12 million illegal immigrants in the USA in 2007 is a record amount
In 2010, illegal immigrants increased from 2009
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=133
Why ?
1) Greenspan & Mayor Bloomberg, in 2007, lobbying for open borders and replacement of Americans with foreign nationals
(Press play and move video slider forward to 1 hour 33 minutes 15 seconds, watch the next 3 minutes)
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/197084-1
2) "In the year following the official end of the Great Recession in June 2009, foreign-born workers gained 656,000 jobs while native-born workers lost 1.2 million, according to a new analysis of US CensusBureau & Department of Labor data by the PewHispanic Center."(http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=129)
3) Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:40am
"Over the past two years, as US unemployment remained near double-digit levels and the economy shed jobs in the wake of the financial crisis, over a million foreign-born arrivals to America found work, many illegally."(http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70J37P20110120)
Specifically, Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (Title 8, Chapter 14, Sec. 1623(a)) states: "an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State (or a political subdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident."
We all deplore illegal immigration at a macro level, but we like it at a micro level - when they are cleaning our houses, babysitting our kids and preparing our meals at restaurants.
I think we need a practical answer - we need to increase lottery spots, but in trade, we need to eliminate birthright citizenship and vastly increase penalties on employers who hire illegal workers. Even the suburban mom who pays a maid under the table to clean her house needs a kick in the pants about the consequences - like a minimum $50,000 fine.