This Land Is Your Land free essay sample

Aaron Millsap J. Dunn Eng. 201 7/20/2010 This Land is Your Land The term â€Å"American† has always been loved and hated by every country in the world. Foreigners that legally immigrate to the United States need to have a reason. Do immigrants do so because they want a better life for their families, a place that you don’t have to worry about bombs exploding, or if you speak up you put your life at risk? Being an American means that you want to practice and protect freedom because the conditions of their immigrating match our fore fathers reasons. The value of historically analyzing immigration is a key argument to backing my thesis. Lets look at it like this. When the first foreigners set foot on American soil they did so looking for a new land and freedom. Low and behold they couldn’t speak the Native American language. This is exactly what the short story, â€Å"The Gift of Language† talks about. We will write a custom essay sample on This Land Is Your Land or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Lan Cao writes that when her mother came to the United States she felt overwhelmed by the difficulties of being a foreigner. But Lan’s mother was going through the same crisis our forefathers had to when they immigrated. Learning the language and a new culture is part of being a foreigner. The Associated Press Stylebook defines the word American as, â€Å"An acceptable description for a resident of the United States. It also may be applied to any resident or citizen of nations in North or South America I believe this is the closest â€Å"technical† explanation of the word American. Now I believe that the correct term for a citizen of the United States should be US-ian (Webster88). In the political and census view of Americanism one who is Chinese is labeled â€Å"Chinese American, but one who is white is labeled Caucasian, not American (USCensus). The process of being â€Å"politically correct† has ultimately split everyone into sub-American categories, not generalizing our citizens as a whole community of Americans. If an American immigrates to Egypt, do they become an American Egyptian? Not likely. The United States is one of the only countries to classify people on there race because so many people want to be American. Immigrating to the United States as Firoozeh Dumas and his brother did in, â€Å"The â€Å"F-Word†Ã¢â‚¬ , is a socially difficult process. Having a difficult name or pronouncing a word the way it would sound in your language are one of a million awkward and tense social situations a foreigner goes through. Imagine not being able to order food or get a job just because you cant speak English. This is why I believe all legal immigrants should have to go through a culture and language class. The first and last verse of, â€Å"This Land is your land,† explains being American: This land is your land, this land is my land From California, to the New York Island From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters This land was made for you and me. † â€Å"In the squares of the city In the shadow of the steeple Near the relief office I see my people And some are grumblin and some are wonderin If this lands still made for you and me. † In the first verse the writ er touches on how from coast to coast, if you’re here â€Å"this land was made for you and me. But when the song closes the writer says, â€Å"I see my people and some are grumblin and some are wonderin If this lands still made for you and me. † The tension that exists between new immigrants and naturalized immigrants is ever rising. How many times have you heard, or even said, something like â€Å"Go back to where you came from† or anything else to that extent or more? Probably more than you think. â€Å"As of 2000, roughly half of Americans believed that whites had become a numerical minority† (Alba 88). Being a white American I can say this is true especially in major cities across the nation. Since the 1960’s the amount of immigration has been rising . In fact Bill Clinton said this in a 1998 speech at Portland University, â€Å"A half century from now, when your grandchildren are in college, there will be no majority race in America. † Slowly but surely Bill Clinton is right. I think by that time there will be so many different mutts of people that we, as Americans, will create our own race of people. In some ways this is alarming to many people. On May 1st, 2007 news stations around the country reported on the alleged plot to massacre thousands of Mexican immigrants. The Group, Alabama Free Militia, were planning on using deadly force to eradicate Mexicans by stockpiling 130 grenades, a grenade launcher, a machine gun, short barreled shot-guns, two silencers, numerous other firearms, 2500 rounds of ammunition, explosive components, approximately 70 improvised explosive devices, commercial fireworks, and enough ammunition to fill a U-Haul trailer (Opinionbug. om) This crazy idea of people so angry about immigration is appalling. To think you would take some ones life because they were not legal. My personal feelings on legal immigration and foreigners are a little more compassionate than the Alabama Free Militia’s. This country was founded by immigrants, built and governed by them. Special laws were placed so that people immigrating legally had a safe place to call home. In return these legal immigrants would pay taxes , follow our laws and register with government agencies to better America. Those, I believe, that have broken our immigration laws and came here illegally are doing more damage than their legal counterparts. But us Americans are so lenient on the illegal part of immigrants that it ultimately makes all immigrants seem â€Å"illegal† in Americans eyes. This is why I believe a portion of Americans believe if you don’t speak English or are not American culture knowledgeable than you don’t belong here In conclusion, I believe being a foreigner is more American than being â€Å"American. Hundreds of years of immigration has made us who we are today. Laws, traditions, religion, and language have all been at the forefront of shaping our great country. With out these great people hundreds of contributions to science and business would be forever lost in translation. Civil human rights would be lacking, and the United States could have been a dictatorship. All of the struggles foreigners have dealt with in there homeland have immigrated with the m, only to make our country more aware of each other