This Land Is Our Land

This Land Is Our Land

Adult nonfiction
I suspect that if I asked you to name a bordering country that
has over 100,000 illegals living in the United States you'd guess
Mexico. You'd be wrong. We're talking Canada, our neighbor to the
north. So why isn't President Trump nagging Congress to build a
wall, BUILD A WALL, from Maine to Washington State, having children
torn from their parents' arms in Calais, and creating lurid
stereotypes of folks from Quebec? You can find intelligence on this
and many related questions in Suketu Mehta's This Land Is Our Land.
In my mind this is the most cogent, comprehensive book on immigration
you can find. Mehta, himself an immigrant, knows what he's talking
about.
Why are immigrants striving valiently and at great peril to
themselves and their beloved families to live in nations that are
often far from welcoming? Mehta gives us compelling reasons such as:
*the legacies of disasterous centuries of colonialism,
*the new colonialism in which multinational corporations have taken
the place of foreign governments,
*wars, many fought with weapons supplied by the United States,
and *climate change which floods some areas while turning others into
deserts.
Why are we so afraid of immigrants? Aren't we the Statue of
Liberty country. Mehta goes beyond the fear that the "superior" white
race will become mongralized or minoritized to show a truly sinister
force behind this polarizing paranoia. [Hint: it involves people in
very high places.]
According to Mehta, we are endangered not by immigrants, but by
the fear that has so many of us clamoring to "Build a wall. BUILD A
WALL!" He gives us very good reasons why we should, instead, be
rolling out the welcome mat.
This Land Is Our Land is a must read for anyone who wants to
understand this complex and controversial issue.
On a purrrsonal note, Thursday was Multicultural Thanksgiving. Ethnic
clubs on campus provided the food. Of course I volunteered from set
up to clean up. It was mad popular. We actually ran out of food and
had to send out for scads of pizzas. Everyone had a great time. This
was probably the real Thanksgiving for international students and
others who live too far away to fly home for 5 days.
Oh, yeah, I'm up to 115 volunteer hours for 2019, when I'd aimed for
only 100. And that's not counting the next blood drive and the time I
can put in at the library when the semester ends.
A great big shout out goes out to everyone who was involved in
Multicultural Thanksgiving.
jules hathaway


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