Aging Capriciously

This blog is best read while listening to the following song:  South Park – Minorities at My Water Park song  (Eric Cartman)

Ever since this country (USA) began, we have had to deal with the problem of immigration and immigrants. You know those lazy shiftless dirty ignorant people from other countries who want to come here to steal the “better” life we have.  Of course, some (those Black folks) came over unwillingly, but that’s not our fault right?  The vast majority of immigrants have been let into the American Dream by laws designed to allow a certain amount of legal immigration each year.  This legal amount has been supplemented by a large amount of illegal immigration or undocumented immigration that takes place because of our porous borders (Read no large brick walls) or perhaps force fields.

Each year seems to bring a new “minority” group to this country.  I can remember in St. Paul when the Hmong come over, then the Somalians, then the Russians.  Many of the Latinos had come over before I moved to St. Paul.  If my history is correct, much of the Mexican migration to the Twin Cities took place in the 40’s and 50’s.  Of course, before that it had been those dirty Italians, lazy Swedes, and mean spirited Germans among others too numerous to mention.  It is a wonder that St. Paul is still basically a White country.  My adopted Korean daughter used to refer to White Bear Lake as “White Boy Lake.”  There were not too many Asians in her high school.  Oh, did I forget the Chinese, Koreans and Japanese who live in the Twin Cites?  No matter, what’s few more or less minorities?  And you know those Asians, they all look alike.

I suppose before I go any further, I should mention those dam Indians.  I know, they were here first!  And they let us know every chance they get.  But let’s face it.  They don’t really count.  After all, they were primitive people who had no law, no writing, no books, no libraries, no Mc Donald’s or anything else you need for a real civilization.  You can’t really take their claims to this country seriously.  Why, they sold Manhattan for only 40 bucks.  Their lack of business acumen is testimony to their inability to manage a large endeavor like the USA.  They should be happy we “Treatied” this land from them.  “Treatied” is a word that I made up to denote the process we followed with these indigenous people.  It works as follows:

• Befriend Indians
• Encroach on their land
• Skirmish with angry Indians
• Make treaty with Indians for peace
• Break treaty with Indians to take more land
• Make new treaty with Indians
• Break treaty to steal more land
• Kill Indians that complain
• Take more land
• Make new treaty

As you can see, this process worked pretty well. We (The White people) now own most of the good land and the remaining Indians (those we did not kill) got put on the Bad Lands (now called reservations.)  That is because we “reserved” those Bad Lands for them.   Well, actually, we only loaned those lands to them, since whenever, gold, copper, water, oil or anything else of value was found on them, we sort of took the lands back and moved those Indians who complained to a new reservation.   I told you earlier Indians were never really very good businesspeople.

So, now that I have briefly reviewed the history of immigration to this (the “Greatest Country on God’s Green Earth”), I would like to look individually at the various minority groups that we (read White folks) have more recently had problems with.  I want to see if perhaps there are solutions to dealing with “those” (non-White) people.  I will look at one minority group in each of my next blogs to review in terms of history, culture and potential contributions to our country.  Based on my findings, we will have a better means of answering the question: “Should we let any more of those people in or should we toughen up our immigration policies to make sure they cannot find a way in?”   I would like to discuss the following groups:

• Black people
• Latino people
• Asian people
• Disabled people

I am going to skip Indians since they were already here and they pose little threat in terms of immigration.  I know a few Eskimos and Natives from Alaska have tried to come down to the “lower” 48, but their numbers are too low to really matter and besides, Alaska is already a state so legally they are not immigrants.

The first of the minority groups that I will look at have been called Africans, African Americans, Blacks, Negros and other more pejorative terms.  This group is composed of people who were tribal in origin but now may lay claim to being descendants from such new nations as Somalia, Uganda, Nigeria and Rhodesia.  The large majority of early slaves who found their way to North America came from West Africa, mainly the region that now has the countries of Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal and Cote I’voire. Traders often referred to this part of Africa as the “Slave Coast”.  Many bought or captured slaves would have come from the Yoruba, Oyo and Ashanti people. The main slave trading countries of Europe were England, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands.  Slaves were brought to this country and traded at slave markets for money, rum or other goods.  It goes without saying that slaves did not come over to America willingly.  I suppose most of them were undocumented but so were most Europeans back in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

You might question my qualifications to write about Black people in America.  If so, I can only defend myself by saying that some of my best friends have been Black.  How many of your have had some best friends who were Black?  Perhaps, I would be more qualified if my sister or niece had married a Black man but that did not happen.  I have known quite a few Black people in my life and I have been to several sessions (sponsored by my company) on “diversity.”   So there, my qualifications are unchallengeable.  Diversity training, Black friends, and I have even read a few books about Black people.  If you still do not find my qualifications acceptable, then I suggest you read the book:  “Black like me” by John Griffin and skip my blog.     

Time for Questions:

Are you a minority?  What makes a person a minority?  Is it color, ethnicity or ideology or all of them?  Have you ever felt like an outsider?  What do you do to help people feel included?  Do you think America is for Americans?  What is a real American?  What should we do about immigration?  Do you think building more walls will help? What about building “walls of hate?”

Life is just beginning.

Lyrics:  Minorities at My Water Park Song:  Eric Cartman

What has happened to this place?
I don’t recognize it anymore.
It used to be so fun and special.
What is life worth living for?
The dream is dead, our land is gone;
There’s a hole in my heart and I can’t go on.

There are too many minorities (minorities)
At my water park (my water park).
This was our land, our dream (our dream)
and they’ve taken it all away.
They just keep coming and coming (minorities).
I tried to go and tell the police,
But even the authorities
Are minorities
At my water park.

There’s no place for me to sit anymore,
And the lines just keep getting crazier.
There are Mexicans all around me.
The lazy river has never been lazier.
It’s a 40 minute wait to go down one slide,
And the instructions are in Spanish on the Zip Line ride!
(Guarden los brazos y piernas dentro del paseo)
Just do it in English!

There are too many minorities (too many)
At my water park (somebody do something).
Where did they all come from?
Why can’t they leave this land alone?
And it’s such a tragedy (feel a bit like dying).
We looked the other way too long.
We’ve got to change our priorities
And get all these minorities
Out of my water park

(Minorities) Mexicans and Asians,
(Black people), I think I even saw Native Americans (gross).
God I’m asking please, get all of these minorities
Out of my water park (my water park).