The top photo gives a good idea just how massive the event in Philly's famed Love Park was. And yeah, it was a picture perfect day to rally! That's me in the second shot. My sign reads "My grandparents were illegal Irish immigrants." Maybe this is why the solidarity runs so deep with me and the immigrants. The fact is, my ancestors arrived from Ireland on a visa which they overstayed, therby becoming "out of status" which is legalese for "illegal immigrant." The way I see it, my story is no diffent than the Mexicans or Chinese of today. Well, expect maybe that Irish are whiteskinned? But I digress.....
P.S. Do you like the T shirt I am wearing? It's Che Guevara wearing a Bart Simpson shirt. It was ironic and apporpriate for the occasion.
Images courtesy of PhillyIMC and Albert Yee who always ends up getting a flattering shot of me at these types of events. God bless you, Albert!
3 comments:
I guess I am the scion of an illegal immigrant too, in a way. My grandfather was a "resident alien". Remember those? Do they still have those? Every January he had to fill out a registration card and send it in, and every January, from when he arrived some time around 1913 until around 1970, he dutifully completed his resident alien card. Then, one year, I reminded him that he had to fill the card and he said, "Don't bother. They know where to find me if they want me." He never filled out that card again. He passed away in 1976 at the age of 89.
Okay, not a terribly dramatic story, but kind of cute, in its way.
I made a comment on another blog..
(I muse therefore I am)who was talking about the kind of labor people associate with illegal immgrants and use it to further degrade them...
I wrote:
we are a nation of immigrants right? The German, Irish, Polish, Italian, Chinese and lately Hispanic immigrants all started at the bottom of the employment totem pole when their particular group were new in large numbers to the US. So many were here illegally in the early days as well (one would even guess at a proportionally larger number as tracking them down would have been nearly impossible)
But with time people forget this stuff. Some of them might just need to check out the 1910,20 and 30 US Federal Census to see the millions listed with the AL (Alien) notation next to their names, in some cities 20 pages would go by before you would find that field blank (denoting a native born citizen)
Looking at your shirt, I couldnt help but instantly think of that comment and how well you illustrated what i was trying to get across.
Nice t-shirt. Unfortunately, our country has a long and disreputable history of "immigration control" that was blatantly discriminatory and anti-semetic. It reached various peaks with "nativist" controls in the 1840s against Irish immigrants, and again after WWI with Chinese and other immigrant groups. So what else is new?
Post a Comment