At Trump rally in Phoenix area, I was told by a supporter of the president to "get the hell out of..

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

36. Oh, dear lord.

I am the granddaughter of Irish immigrants, in that all four of my grandparents came here from Ireland, at the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century. The huge advantage they had over most immigrants was that they got here already speaking English. they did face the standard prejudice against immigrants.

Two stories. The first is that when I was a little girl, all of the elderly aunts would look at me and say (and please imagine some sort of Irish brogue/accent here) "Ahh, she has the map of Ireland on her face!" Because I grew up in this country, and even if we are only talking people descended from European immigrants, there's still a lot of diversity. Add in everyone else, and Woah!

My first trip to Ireland I was astonished. Every single person I saw looked EXACTLY like my brothers and my sisters and my cousins. I cherish my background, as should you cherish yours.


Second story. A while back, I was in the checkout line at a grocery store. The woman doing the bagging, whom I'd seen often, was clearly a Russian immigrant. I could recognize her accent. The man ahead of me addressed her by name, and then said, "I understand you've just become a citizen. Congratulations! We need more people like you here." Wow. I was blown away by that sentiment and have never forgotten it. Every so often I meet a new citizen. A man I worked with at the local hospital. The neighbor across the street. I need always to remember to say: We need more people like you here.