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"America was founded by immigrants and really the Americans are immigrants." said the fourth-grader

Overall Rating:Average Rating (2.22) based on 9 ratings

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Reviews for "America was founded by immigrants and really the Americans are immigrants." said the fourth-grader  1-8 OF 8

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beth8507 (4)
07/28/2006
Magellen,
"people that just want to work"? I am so tired of hearing that quote, it's so uneducated and unrealistic. There are people in America that are citizens that just want to work also, but their jobs get outed to some illegal immigrant who will work for less, thus creating more poverty and more social welfare. When they illegal's created the MS-13 gang in America, did they just want to work? How do you feel knowing that you're not eligable for Medicaid when you make only $8.00 an hour, but you are required to pay it and the illegal's are the one's who are getting your money? How do you feel about wanting to live here and work here, but don't want to learn english? I'm not saying that all languages but English should be banned in this country. There should be a freedom to speak whatever language you want, but you must learn the native tongue of the people who's country you plan on living and working in, that's just the respectable and well-understood thing to do that everyone on this planet who immigrates to whatever country they immigrate to seems to understand like second nature, EXCEPT Mexicans! That makes it really disrespectful. THe country these people want to live in, was founded, created, fought tooth and nail for and built by European settlers in less than 350 years, and they don't give a damn about any of that, they just want to reap the benefits of 350 years of hard work and be able to do whatever they want here, and then call us racist for not condoning illegal immigration.		6
abichara (54)
04/17/2006
Here's the thing--using such a broad definition of immigrant has its perils. When you put it this, you can say that all 6 billion people born on this planet are immigrants in one sense or another. Migration of peoples from place to place has been the norm for thousands of years. Immigrants can be best defined as those who were not natually born in America by American citizens. Yes, you can go back 500 years and claim that all Americans are immigrants, but in reality, there is a limit as to how far back you can go. Of course, I'm not saying this to pick on the fourth grader who said it...I'm merely commenting on the nature of defining who is an immigrant. 4
sfalconer (21)
04/13/2006
It nice to see that our schools are teaching kids the difference between right and wrong. I guess the word illegal doesn't mean the same thing when you are talking about imigration.3
GenghisTheHun (155)
04/12/2006
UPDATE: I usually do not reply, but after reading StarkTruth's thoughtful comments, I post this reply. Historians, of all stripes and persuasions, conclude that a civilization or people must have settled agriculture to support a large population. Starktruth states: "Estimates on the total population prior to European Settlers, range from 8 to 140 Million American Indians." Now I would grant that if you threw in Mexico, and Mesoamerican down to the Darien Gap and included Greenland Eskimos and Alaska, etc., it is possible to have perhaps four million with a large proportion living in the warmer areas where we know large population existed. It would be physically impossible to support a larger population than that with a hunting and fishing and slash agriculture that most of the American Indians used. My mind boggles at the "estimate" of 140,000,000 before Columbus. Where is the archeology to prove such extensive settlement? It is not there. Deer and other four footed wild game was much scarcer in 1506 than 2006. The only thing that was more abundant was the Passenger Pigeon and that was limited to the Eastern forests. I stand by my statement, and to make it clear, I speak of the USA, that before European settlement the Indians numbered at most hundreds of thousands not millions. In fact more Indians live in the USA today than lived here at the time Columbus landed. That is a cold hard fact. It is not politically correct, I'll grant you, but true. Archeologists, with no axes to grind, all agree. Archeology of agriculture is easy with remote sensing, i.e. taking pictures from the air. You can see fields from Roman Times in England, for instance, when you look from the air. Where is such evidence in the USA? ORIGINAL COMMENT: I strongly disagree. America was founded by settlers. They came to a wild open country with no government, no services, nothing. There were just a few hundred thousand Indians in the entire country. The settlers wrestled and made a civilization. They were not illegal. Nobody owned the country. It belonged to the group strong enough to hold it. That was what the Indians were doing to each other long before the Europeans arrived. The Chippewa drove the Sioux into the prairies and took over their forest lands in the 18th century, for instance. Navajo were occupying Hopi lands, etc. That happened all over the country, and also in Mexico. Records are non-existent since none of the native groups had a written language or at least left a written history. Immigrants come to a place that is already settled. That is the difference. They are settling nothing.2
Jed1000 (79)
04/12/2006
I look at these quotes on an individual basis. This one, being from a 4th grader, is certainly understandable and forgiveable. He or she is simply repeating something he's heard. It's pablum because it skirts the real issue. Every single person in the world was an immigrant at one time or another. Russians weren't always in Russia.. they came from Scandinavia. Aboriginals weren't always in Australia.. they came from the shores of southeast Asia. And "native" Americans weren't always in America.. they came from Siberia. There's no sense trying to dispute the truth of the statement because the term "immigrant" can be applied to any human population at some given time in history.4
StarkTruth (60)
04/11/2006
Genghis, I am alarmed by your statement "Settlers came to a wild open country with no government, no services, nothing. There were just a few hundred thousand Indians in the entire country." Misrepresenting history is not a good way to begin a debate. I've done a little research on this subject and here's what I found: Estimates on the total population prior to European Settlers, range from 8 to 140 Million American Indians. The general concensus is that there were 40 Million people already residing in North America when Europeans arrived. Those numbers were reduced by at least 80% through mass genocide and exposure to diseases like smallpox. (often times deliberately placed on the blankets given the natives). In rebuttal, Natives had excellent forms of government, in many cases they would even rival the one we currently enjoy. They had services, providing food, shelter, medical care, etc to their people. I am dismayed at the course of events that this county has partaken in over the last several centuries in regards to the treatment of the original tenants. Like the Spaniards, we took what was not ours to take. That said, I see history repeating itself, and yes I feel compassion for those who seek a better life, but also for those whose lives are forever changed with the arrival of a new band of conquerors. 8
Ridgewalker (116)
04/11/2006
Update: I don't remember anyone talking about "hating" here, Magellan. The original "immigrants" were illegal...to the British. And while the Native American's only rules of conduct were towards each other, the Earth and Sun, they had no idea of the impact that was about to occur. There are now rules and laws in place and they are being violated. What is also being violated, is the kind nature of the American people. As I have stated, I have no problem with infusing new people into our society, but what is occuring is not "proper infusion". It's turning into blackmail. Original: Yes, young lady, but they were called "legal immigrants".12
magellan (128)
04/11/2006
Really Ridge? How about the first settlers. Were they legal too? Where the American settlers in what was then Mexico (and now what is Texas) legal? I don't know folks, I can't just bring myself to hate on people that just want to work. Maybe it's because there's so many freeloaders where I live who DON'T want to work (but sadly, they're citizens). I'd rather hate on them.4
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