Which Babies Are Real Americans?

Common Dreams: "

by Priscilla Huang

Yuki Lin, born on the stroke of midnight this New Year's, became the winner of a random drawing for a national Toys "R" Us sweepstakes. The company had promised a $25,000 U.S. savings bond to the "first American baby born in 2007." However, Yuki lost her prize after the company learned that her mother was an undocumented U.S. resident. Instead, the bond went to a baby in Gainesville, Georgia, described by her mother as "an American all the way.

"The toy retailer soon found itself in the midst of the country's heated immigration debate. Under mounting pressure, Toys "R" Us reversed its decision and awarded savings bonds to all three babies, including Yuki. The issue of citizenship was at the heart of this controversy: Is a baby born to undocumented immigrants an American in the same way that a baby born to non-immigrant parents is? Since the 14th Amendment grants automatic citizenship to persons born on U.S. soil, both babies have equal standing as citizens. Not all people, however, view citizenship this way. As the grandmother of the Gainesville baby told reporters, " [the mother is] an illegal alien, that makes the baby illegal.""

OK, I'm officially out of patience with Cracker Entitlement in this country. YOU white people are all IMMIGRANTS, at best, invading hoards at worst. You have no more right to be here than anyone who doesn't claim Native American or Mexican ancestry. The only thing that makes you American is the fact that you were born here, and little Yuki Lin is exactly as American as you are. If you think we need to eject people from the country, you lead the way and maybe your bigoted "white" friends will follow.

Maybe it's time to make everyone acknowledge their origins. We already set apart Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans. Maybe we should start identifying Polish Americans, German Americans, Irish Americans, Anglo-Americans, etc. Those of you that are mixed can just call yourself American hybrids or mutts, whichever you prefer.

My family has been in this country since before there was an America. I'm Cherokee and Melungeon, both of which were here when the first boats landed. Even my few Irish ancestors arrived in 1645 - their decendants fought with George Washington. That's a "real American." The rest of you, including you, LOU DOBBS, are new-comers with no more right to this country than allowed by the Constitution.

Most of you "white" people got here illegally or as refugees if you go back a generation or two. Why should your family be any more qualified for citizenship than anyone else? Are we supposed to pretend that your relatives didn't arrive on a boat from Poland or England or Russia just because it happened 50 or 60 years ago? If they've been here longer than that, your ancestors were indentured servants, slave owners and war profiteers who brought disease, slavery and alcoholism with them. Face it - you won the global lottery by being born in a country where you actually have rights. You didn't earn your place here. Your ancestors may or may not have, but you didn't. Your mama just happened to be on US soil when she gave birth to you. That sense of special entitlement you have that tells you "god" picked you to be special because of your place of birth is a delusion - a racist, elitist delusion - and it's time we call it what it is: bullshit.

Yuki Lin will probably grow up with an appreciation of this country that most of us can't imagine. She won't have that bullshit sense of entitlement the baby from Georgia will probably be raised with, and I think that's a huge advantage for her and for the society she grows up in.

This whole immigration issue has made me think that we do need to start holding people accountable for what their ancestors did. If you want to claim it gives you special rights, then it gives you special responsibilities, too. Here's the tally: You owe reparations to at least every African American in this country for more than 40 years. Add to that reparations to all of the First Nations for the value of the land you stole, from coast to coast. Women are due reparations up through the 70s. By the time all accounts are settled, the wealth in this country will have been redistributed so that there are no more social classes. Then maybe we'll begin to be the fair and generous society we think we are:

The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Mother of Exiles, indeed.