I have spent most of my adult life in a place I did not grow up. I came from Texas to Chicago for college, and have stayed nearly a decade. I could easily go back to Texas, but I have made relations and connections here, and choose to stay, whether I consider it home or not. And never once, have I been told to “Go back” where I came from.
Even growing up in Texas, I was an outsider and felt like one. I was not born there but on the East Coast. My entire family was born in New England and is made up of educated Yankees. We moved to Texas when I was very young, and while it was the only home I ever knew, it definitely felt like we were a little out of place. There were moments when grated against schoolteachers who had much more conservative views and sought to teach them. And we never exactly got along with most of out neighbors. Still, it was normal, beautiful, privileged middle-class childhood. And of course, we were never told to “Go home.”
Now you could say of course nobody told us that, because we were born and bred Americans. No matter what state or region of the country you come from, if you’re American, anywhere in the country can be home to you. But that simple fact hasn’t seemed to stop the current American President from using that age-old adage against four female citizens in our congress. The real answer, the one that is obvious but some may be reluctant to point out, is of course nobody told me to go back where I came from because I am white. The fact that a quarter of the citizens in this country are not white is irrelevant. The fact that white immigrants live in this country is also irrelevant. When that phrase is used, it is certainly anti-immigrant, certainly a symptom of sick, xenophobic Nationalism. But it is not meant to say “leave this country to natural-born Americans!” It is meant to say “Leave this country to the white people.”
And yes I know, white immigrants have faced harsh and violent discrimination in our history. I’m sure my grandfather with an Irish accent so thick half the family could not understand him heard that phrase more than once, even in mid-20th century New York. It certainly kept him in a certain class that he could not break out. And Irish and Italian immigrants were able to build up their neighborhoods that did not face redlining and modern segregation, which allowed them to build communities, businesses and political coalitions. So one generation later we are Americans, because our accents faded, because our skin is pale, and because a white immigrant is less of a threat to the identity of the country for xenophobes like 45 than an American of color.
A person’s country of origin, or actual ethnic background, like I am Irish-American and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a second generation Peurto-Rican New Yorker, is an irrelevant reality. That reality has no place in this administration, or the country under it. That reality takes a backseat to the image of America our President has and the intent of his party. Republican congressmen may not be as overt about it, but their policy under this administration and silence in response to overtly racist comments speak volumes. Their reality, which they are in the process of realizing, is an America where immigrants are allowed, but not allowed power. Much like my grandfather was restricted to a certain class of job by his ethnic background, so are immigrants and Americans of color under a Republican ideal. The way that undocumented immigrants are subjected to under-regulated, dangerous and abusive labor in our current system. Along with a poor white class that will blame the immigrants for their poorness, not their CEO’s or elected officials. In this America only white (men if at all possible) of money and power are given significant voices or representation, or human rights and dignity for that matter.
Reality, like the the fact that over 90% of migrants applying for asylum do show up for appointed court dates when allowed in the country, has no bearing on policy. It is an inconvenient fact that only gets in the way of an administration that really just wants to deport as many non-white migrants as possible, regardless of their fates in their home countries, or family here or contribution to our economy. The point is not to fix the immigration system, or they would be dealing the the real problems it faces. The point is to end it.
The devastating, shocking reality of migrant camps on the Southern border, can have no impact on members of this administration, no matter how moral or Christian they claim to be. Even the visible image of men kept in cages so overcrowded they cannot sit, the feeling of cold warehouse air conditioning under a suit jacket, and the the sound men screaming “No showers” cannot force those administrators to admit they are witnessing a violation of basic human rights. Because they created that violation. They will not back down from that stance now just because they are shown the reality of it. After seeing it with their own eyes Vice President Pence and Senator Lindsey Graham still cannot admit these conditions are deplorable or inhumane. All they can do is blame the migrants themselves for crossing, or the Democrats for a policy executed by the Trump administration. And they can only heap praise on the border security guards who have been implicated in sexual assault and child-abuse. The only way to deal with these facts, is to push through their own reality. One where these men and women and children are not seen, either because they are deported back to “where they came from” to suffer, or left in these cages, behind thick concrete walls, where the reality can be easily ignored.
I have never been told to go back where I came from. It is not because I am a “real” American. Real Americans are told that every day. They are telling their stories in droves at this moment, stories of being assaulted by that phrase, followed and humiliated by it, and overcoming it. I suggest you go listen to those stories, if your still unsure what it really means. Real Americans are being attacked, locked up and overlooked in this administration, just like real America and real facts. It is not by mistake, but intentional. Because their effective effort to make a new reality is to ignore the one they don’t want to see. Soon other people will see that new reality too, like a mass delusion people will believe it and follow anybody that says it is real. Because it is so preferable to the reality we all live in. But believing it won’t change what is real, it won’t erase the real Americans no matter how hard they try. We will all still be here, and we will all be heard.
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