I see the deep toxicity in our national discussion over immigration... and I am pained.

Dan Rather

I see the scapegoating of the "other"... and I recognize the dark echoes of history.

I see complicated issues being reduced to irresponsible sloganeering and applause lines to feed a fervent mob... and I know this is the opposite of leadership, it is demagoguery.

And yet, I also know that in the American story we have been here before. The fires of bigotry can burn bright and they can do great damage. But in the end our national destiney has been to follow a path towards justice, despite the detours.

There is so much to say about the immigration debate, and I plan to keep speaking on this topic. I felt I would start by sharing some passages from the "Immigration" essay from my book WHAT UNITES US because I gave a lot of thought in writing it to how we may begin a conversation that heals. Immigration must be part of #WhatUnitesUs.

"We all have come here from somewhere else, and the vast majority of us are only a few generations removed from another land. Whether that is one generation or ten, it seems rather sanctimonious to claim that there is much of a difference. Not many of us can trace our arrival back a few hundred years, let alone millennia. But even the ancestors of the Native Americans are believed to have come across a land bridge from Asia — a reminder that we are a species of migrations, and always have been. Of course, not all migrations have been voluntary; many are here because their ancestors were ripped from their homelands in Africa and carried across the ocean in bondage.

Too many times the term “American” has been used as a weapon against new immigrants, especially those who look, speak, or pray differently. And yet one of the noblest ideals of our country is that anybody from anywhere can be an American. This has been, and continues to be, an eternal battle between our demons and angels for the soul of the United States. And it was present at the baptism of a nation that proclaimed “all men are created equal” but defined many men as three-fifths of a whole, never mind women of all races.

The debate over immigration takes many forms, and some of them are worth considering. We are a land of opportunity and prosperity, and it would be wonderful if we had the ability to welcome everyone seeking a better life to our shores. We cannot, so we will always have to make hard choices. There are also many hard questions. How do we handle undocumented immigrants, not only the ones who have crossed our southern border, but also those who have overstayed visas? How do we continue to welcome skilled workers who can benefit our economy without taking jobs away from American citizens capable of doing the work but who might demand a higher wage? How do we contend with the fact that many undocumented workers do difficult and dangerous jobs, in agriculture, construction, and service, that most Americans do not seem to want to do themselves? How do we balance empathy for refugees seeking asylum with security concerns? Immigration will always be a complicated and perplexing issue, especially if we remain a country that is perceived as a promised land. That is the spirit that drew most of our ancestors, and hopefully we will remain such a nation.

As we all know, however, the immigration debate isn’t only about policy and economics; it is also about culture, race, and religion. We are at a particularly ugly juncture in this regard, but we have been here before. In the early days of the republic, the country needed settlers, so nearly anyone could immigrate. Then, as the United States started to grow and be seen as a land of opportunity, a big wave of immigration began in the decades before the Civil War. Most were from Northern and Central Europe, and many were Catholics — particularly from Germany and Ireland. This sparked a fierce backlash and the rise of the American Party, nicknamed the Know-Nothing Party. Its ranks were driven largely by anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiments. The ugly echoes of their intolerance can be heard today, and it is ironic that some who question the “Americanness” of more recent arrivals are themselves descendants of those who were labeled “un-American” in the nineteenth century...

In recent years, when I reported from distant and dangerous military outposts in Iraq and Afghanistan, I saw a great diversity of surnames stitched into uniforms — and the pride of service in diverse faces. It was renewed proof that we are a nation of immigrants who believe in service. I have had a similar experience reading the names etched into marble in Arlington National Cemetery. Patriotism and sacrifice know no ethnicity, race, or religion. And it has always been thus. Whether it’s the more than 40 percent of the Union soldiers in the Civil War who were born overseas or had a parent who was an immigrant, or the late Humayun Khan, U.S. Army captain who died in a suicide attack in Iraq and then became a potent symbol in our current political debate, there should be no question about whether our newest Americans are willing to sacrifice for their adopted country...

Today we see an eagerness among some of our elected officials — buoyed by passionate segments of the voting public — to erect new barriers to immigration. But these efforts will not stop the demographic momentum already underway in the United States. If anything, I believe that demonizing the most recent arrivals to our shores will only, over time, galvanize the political will of the majority of Americans who understand the true legacy of our history.

When I walk around this great land, in small towns and big cities, bus stations and airports, baseball stadiums and art museums, I see an America that has expanded beyond the wildest dreams of its founders. We are a people of energy and purpose, a blended land of ever-increasing diversity that so far has proven the strength and wisdom of our great experiment. We must find a way to defeat the forces of intolerance. If we do, we will emerge a better, stronger nation."

Source
https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/posts/10159979862275716