I felt moved to finally share this video since I am going to see Hamilton on Wednesday! I'm so excited. I think this video makes an already great song incredibly powerful. The U.S. has been built upon the back of immigrants. And yet, today, many immigrants live in fear, surrounded by hate and xenophobia. It doesn't matter if they are a doctor or a waitor, it doesn't matter if they are documented or not- they don't deserve to live that way. Still, you might know that they are some of the most patriotic people around. Every day, my immigrant father will point out something "amazing" about the US, something that he's grateful for. Sometimes I roll my eyes and tell him he's idealizing an imperfect system and other times I listen. He talks about roads a lot, how often there is construction and how fast they finish. I would never think of that, otherwise. The world as we know it wouldn’t function without the service industry. Some of the people who are rude to waiters and mock the notion of raising the minimum rage are the same people who want to be able to buy coffee at odd hours, who enjoy the clean, organized shelfs at grocery stores, and who don’t want to dry clean their own clothes or harvest their own vegetables.
Immigrants aren't "stealing American jobs." The truth is, they are willing to do jobs Americans aren't, for less money. Let’s treat service workers better and with the respect they deserve (hint: it’s as much as anyone else). Let's treat immigrants better and with the respect they deserve (hint: refer back to previous hint).
1 Comment
leigh
12/2/2019 09:19:21 am
Ohmygod!!! I love Hamilton so much! I got to see it in Richmond last Tuesday ( I'm not sure if it's the same show, but the show in Richmond was amazing!!) And YAS immigrants do get the job done!
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Who Am I?Hi there! I'm Whit, my pronouns are they/them, and I write a lot.
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Painting by Whit Acrylics on masonite April 20th, 2019 Words are a Quaker saying. George Fox? |