In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the
American people.
The text is actually from a letter written right before he passed away, in January, 1919, ten years after his presidency ended. The ceasefire that ended World War I had been declared a mere 2 months earlier, and the Treaty of Versailles would not be signed until June 28, five months after Roosevelt's passing. I'm telling you all of this because I think it brings an important bit of context to the above quote, something that is frequently lost in these emails. Well, that, and I like to think of DLOG as edutainment.
I find this a little disheartening, because the above quote, I think anyway, is the sort of intense thing that comes about as the result of a conflict, and, to my mind, sort of goes against some of the things I enjoy about being an American. It's understandable that during international conflict, there is concern that Americans who hail from the countries that we are conflicting with may find their allegiances
divided. I believe that the comment above was speaking to that - reminding those who came to this country seeking some kind of asylum or a better life for themselves and their families that their allegiances should be to this country first. I think he goes a bit far, but that's the idea anyway.
The thing is, America is about immigration. The English immigrated here seeking religious freedom (or better cheese - I wasn't big on history). History books don't talk about it that way, but I have yet to read a book on American history written by a native American. Now etymology isn't exactly one of my hobbies (comes from not knowing most of my biological ancestors), but I'm pretty sure anyone who looks back
far enough is going to find themselves a genuine non-English speaking immigrant in their past, even the Irish. Okay, technically they speak English, but have you ever heard people from Ireland talk to each other? It's close enough to a foreign language for me.
My point is that I hear a lot of people (mostly white people) talk about immigration as if it was something that had nothing to do with them, as if the earth itself had opened up and bore them, the only true Americans, which is totally ridiculous. America is supposed to be a melting pot. I'm not saying we need to open the borders and let anyone in who wants to be here, but I think it does everyone good to
embrace other cultures, especially those of our own people.
The other side of this is that the sentiment sits a little too closely to the mass hysteria that followed 9-11. I distinctly remember being in college at the time, and stopping at a local gas station to grab a soda pop. Outside there was a big sign that explained in no uncertain terms that the people running the shop were neither from Iraq or Afghanistan. There was a lot of news back then about people being
attacked because they were of middle eastern descent. At that moment, I was so ashamed of my country, of my people. I was ashamed because as soon as we found ourselves in conflict, we turned on anyone we viewed as 'not one of us'. I wonder how many of those who felt the need to treat middle easterners poorly had an ancestor who was similarly treated that way they didn't know about.
Anyway, off my soap box and back to work. For those that wonder, no I don't know all of this stuff off of the top of my head. Every mass email should be verified by the good people at Snopes (article in question here), and then details can be gathered at Wikipedia. The more
you know and all that.
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