Immigration

As the direct descendant of an immigrant, I've given a great deal of thought to the discussion of immigrants in this country, the possible danger of permitting certain types of people in, certain religions, building the wall, etc. It's perplexing...

This Thanksgiving, I am very grateful to the indigenous Americans who offered their help and friendship to my ancestor John Howland, and the other immigrants aboard the sailing ship, the Mayflower, in 1620. The Wampanoag, who lived in the Northeastern part of the United States for 12,000 years, prior to the arrival of these settlers, welcomed these immigrants with food, supplies, and agricultural training, in spite of the fact that the English were a different skin color, spoke a different language, and had a very different religion.

Perhaps our concern about immigration has to do with an unspoken recognition of how we ultimately negotiated with and treated those who provided us with food, shelter, and assistance when we were immigrants, and a fear that ultimately we too may endure a similar fate at the hands of those we helped...

This Thanksgiving, I am grateful to the people who inhabited this part of the country  for thousands of generations, the Wampanoag and Abanaki, for extending their hands and opening their homes to my immigrant ancestors. It is my hope that I can incorporate their spirit of generosity and tolerance toward immigrants, and honor it in my own daily life with others.