Pettigrew: Americans all, immigrants most - a bit of reality

A very interesting opinion piece by a man who is mostly American Indian. Be sure to read the whole piece, not just the beginning that I copied here. DP

By: Gil Pettigrew / Guest columnist

Indian Country : Being largely of Amerindian heritage (Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, probably Choctaw; let the record show my ancestors from Celtic lands, from the ''dark continent,'' weren't so much immigrants as cargo), I find the recent uproar over illegal immigrants can be rather amusing.

Sorry to be more indigenous than thou, but America has had a problem with illegal immigrants since 1492 and the debate sometimes seems as if one group of people who don't really belong here are trying to keep out another group.

In seriousness, I understand the necessity for a secure border - should've been more secure 500 years ago, but that horse has left the barn - to exclude evildoers (terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers); I don't think we should be concerned about folks coming for construction jobs or to do gardening or to earn a living; monitoring immigration into national boundaries is the right of sovereign states. Of course, these points are obvious.

Americans have a proud tradition of welcoming the huddled masses from across the globe, who come bringing their hopes, desires for socioeconomic and political freedom, their varied cultures and enjoyable accents, enriching the United States figuratively and literally. American culture is richer for the diverse foods, clothing styles, languages and religions that immigrants continue to bring us.

And the U.S. economy needs immigrants. It's mostly a myth that immigrants take jobs from those born here. To quote journalist Tony Brown: ''immigrants do jobs Americans can't do or won't do.'' Haven't seen many Native-born Americans with career aspirations picking strawberries for 16 hours a day. Then again, if you want a neurosurgeon/computer programmer cum financial analyst, you'll need an immigrant, too.

Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.