Happy (belated) Saint Patrick’s Day! 

March 17 marked that special celebration of our Irish Catholic roots.  Well, your roots, maybe.  I am not Irish, but I am an American and so I join in this celebration of our diversity.  And I like parades.  I’m not so sure about the green beer. 

Did you know that about 12 percent of our current US population reports having some Irish ancestry?  There was a time when they came to America by the boat load.  In the late 1800s there were more Irish living in New York City than in Dublin.  As you probably recall from history class, they came to America looking for jobs and hope.  They were immigrants — some legal, some illegal. 

They heard the welcoming call from our famous lady, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teaming shore.  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”   OK, I know.  At the peak of Irish immigration, the tall lady wasn’t in the harbor yet.  But our values as Americans were there, right?  Her voice was there, right?  

A better question might be:  Is she still there?

Is This Then Or Now?

Of course, the Irish immigration story is one we are re-telling today.  Millions of Irish Catholics came to America looking for work.  They were destitute when they arrived.  (This sounds familiar.)  Irish immigrants often entered the workforce at the bottom of the occupational ladder and took on the menial or dangerous jobs that were avoided by others.  (This sounds familiar.)

Alas, for various reasons, the new Irish were soon oppressed. (This sounds familiar.)  Let’s face it.  They didn’t fit in very well.  They came to us poor, they talked funny, and they did that crazy religion…not to mention they began competing for our jobs. 

I guess we could have listened to the nativists then, like supporters of the American Party who advocated anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiments.  They promoted their version of traditional American ideals which seemed to conveniently ignore “give me your tired, your poor…”  You may remember them as the ”Know-Nothings,” because their standard reply to questions about their activities was, “I know nothing about it.”  At least, I suppose, they felt a little embarrassed then.  Then.

When it comes to Irish people and to Catholics, we’ve come a long way.  Today, we claim at least two of our popular past presidents as Irish or Catholic, Ronald Reagan and John Kennedy.  I’m proud to live in a country where one of “them” can become president.

OK, I know, the circumstances during the days of Irish immigration were not exactly the same as today.  The laws then were not exactly the same as today.  But what about our attitudes?  Are they still the same?  I wonder if we are better now.

I Wonder, Can We Be Better Today?

We can wonder as we celebrate our diversity.  Maybe we can be better.  Let’s celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day (parades, green beer, welcoming spirit) by standing in support of our long-time Irish Catholic immigrant friends in a new call for immigration reform today. 

Let’s Fix It¹

Let’s fix today’s broken, oppressive immigration system that rejects strangers simply because we are afraid or because they are different.  Let’s fix a broken system that breaks up families and creates more orphans in our land.  Instead, let’s create a system that welcomes today’s immigrants by providing a path for them to become a legal part of our American society as citizens or at least as tax-paying workers. 

Let’s step into the light of the lamp beside the golden door and stand up for the richness of our real American values:  We are a people who welcome the tired and poor.  We are Americans.

Happy (belated) Saint Patrick’s Day.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, PhD (2010).

1. For a more thorough discussion of comprehensive immigration reform, see my previous articles Who Are These Kids? and Effective Immigration Reform And The Murky Middle