The story goes that in 1620 a group of 102 Pilgrims landed in what is now Massachusetts. During their first winter half of them died. In the spring, fortune smiled on them in the face of Squanto - a member of the Pawtucket tribe - who taught the Pilgrim immigrants how to cultivate corn, catch fish and avoid poisonous plants. Just as importantly it was Squato who helped the Pilgrims forge important alliances with other Native American tribes.
Later that Autumn, the Pilgrims who had survived got together with Native Americans to celebrate the harvest. It's worth noting that without help from these natives, some of the very first immigrants to North America would not have survived.
The local natives welcomed the Pilgrims into North America. At this point, these immigrants had nothing to offer the natives. It's a fortunate thing for the Pilgrims that the natives didn't seem to be concerned with establishing immigrant quotas. Neither did the natives seek to selectively help only those natives who had recognizable skills. To the natives, who knew how to survive, the Pilgrims probably had zero skills that they needed.
And I'm pretty sure the Pawtuckets weren't concerned about building a wall along the eastern seaboard to keep other Pilgrims from coming.
In 1827 Sarah Joseph Hale, a noted magazine editor and writer began a nearly four-decade campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Finally, in the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln agreed with her that it was a good idea to recognize and give thanks for our blessings.
In part, here is what Lincoln wrote in his proclamation in 1863, when he established the holiday "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficient Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him [God] for such singular deliverances and blessings, they [US residents] do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His [God's] tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife [Civil War] in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union."
Fast forward to the present day, according to the 2016 Current Population Survey, that immigrants and their US-born children now comprise 27% of the entire US population. So it's safe to say that from the start with a relatively small group of 102 Pilgrim immigrants, the US has always been and continues to be, a nation of immigrants. Sort of flies in the face of anyone making a claim against the importance of immigrants. Or that only certain ethnic groups or cultures are important when it comes to the rich mixture that is the reality of life in the US.
According to Americans for Immigrant Justice, unauthorized immigration is at its lowest level since 1972. The only increase in unauthorized immigration has been among children who are fleeing the gang violence from drug cartels in Central America. Interestingly, there are more Mexicans leaving the US than arriving at our borders seeking entrance. The AIJ sited above also noted a study conducted by the American Immigration Council in July, 2015 that found undocumented immigrants commit violent crimes at far lower rates than native born Americans. Putting into question any claims of the need for a stronger wall along the Mexican border, due to safety reasons or to control an upswing of Mexican immigrants.
This Thanksgiving Day we should gave thanks for:
. American natives freely helping the Pilgrim immigrants survive after their first winter in a strange land
. rich mixtures of cultures that make up the US
. incredible contributions in science, industry and religion that have come from immigrants
We can also give thanks for the religious tradition of the US, that includes so many different faiths offering welcome to the immigrant and refugee alike. Jews and Christians can both use the reference from Leviticus 19:33-34 ("Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in the land...love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt.") Muslims can use the Quran (Al-Baqarah 2:177, An-Nissa 4:36) which all contain similar concepts of actively welcoming and helping the stranger (immigrant) among us.
We can give thanks that every one of of us living in the US, come from a long line of immigrants. And we can express our thanks by extending welcome to the current generation of immigrants wishing to make the same journey that our ancestors did.
Photo Credits: top photo - indiancountrymedianetwork
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