SamSaid!

BIG DIFFERENCE

     The current wave of Hispanic immigrants is not the first such experience in our history. In the early 1900s there were millions of immigrants from central and western Europe. But there are significant differences between then and now. The root causes may have been the same  –  poverty, no future and the attractiveness of living in America. But 2 distinct differences are readily visible. The first is that the European imigrants WANTED to become Americans. They were fully prepared to cut the tie to the Old Country. They did not come here to ride a welfare gravy train. Second, they WANTED their kids to learn English. For sure, they kept momentos of their ancestry, but they did not march around carrying a foreign flag and demanding their immigration “rights”.

     A personal recollection is appropo. I was born and raised in the ethnic polyglot of Southwestern Pennsylvania. More than half of the parents of my classmates could not speak English. A friend and classmate was Andy Pasquini whose father, Guiseppe, operated a bakery from their home. As kids came by, he always had a piece of warm bread for us.

     Guiseppe had filed for citizenship, and after a long delay, his US citizenship papers finally arrived. He was enormously proud and happy. At a backyard picnic for friends and neighbors, his eldest son, Mario, raised his glass of wine (Italian, no doubt) and offered a toast  — speaking in Italian. Guiseppe interrupted him and said, “No, No, Mario. No more.  Now I am an American  — we speak English” .

      At the Pasquini home, the American flag flew on the 4th of July, but Guiseppe still cheered for Joe DiMaggio.