← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · il ragno
Thread ID: 18990 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2005-07-05
2005-07-05 20:40 | User Profile
Cover story of the 4th of July edition of Zuckerman's NY DAILY NEWS. Read it and weep (with gallows laughter). White Europeans - let alone native-born white Americans - need not apply. In fact, Europeans are the one kind of immigrant the INS somehow successfully manages to interdict and deport!
Note also the new trend - being white, but pretending not to be, for the purposes of living here and getting benefits: Jaramillo is a white Colombian of Euro origin (hence the "German"), who'd find his visa suddenly snafu'ed if he were to point that out to the immigration authorities. Of course, he's a 'theatrical artist', so he's probably already squirting a mutated superstrain of HIV up the posteriors of our lavender community as we speak.
America - DP camp for the Third World entire. Give me your drug mules, your sleeper agents, your ebola-carriers yearning to cough freely into a crowd!
[B]Happy Independence Day, everybody![/B]
[url]http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/324947p-277787c.html[/url]
[B][SIZE=3]Proud to be in America [/SIZE] [/B]
[I]City immigrants count blessings on Independence Day[/I]
By LESLIE CASIMIR DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
For many Americans, Independence Day means a day off to fire up the barbecue, head to the beach or watch fireworks light up the sky. But for 10 immigrant New Yorkers interviewed by the Daily News, today's holiday is a reminder of all America has given them: the freedom to start a West African newspaper, to give their children a better future, to operate a Shanghai restaurant - even if you are from Malaysia.
This cross section of the city's newcomers, who hail from around the world and arrived mostly within the last decade, agrees that the United States remains a beacon for their hope and dreams.
"I'm happy to be here," said Mariatu Kargbo, 36, who fled strife-torn Sierra Leone in 1997 with her husband. "If you work hard, the opportunities are there."
Although federal immigration laws and border patrols have gotten more stringent over the past decade, immigrants say they still believe in Uncle Sam's Democratic principles.
"Even if there are some current problems, I think the future of America is totally brilliant," said Germán Jaramillo, 52, a Colombian actor and director. "My hope is in this."
** [IMG]http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/928-thelwell_a.JPG[/IMG] Aduke Thelwell, 23, financial analyst, West Village
Arrived: 1999 from Kingston, Jamaica
How: Student visa to Swarthmore College, economics major
Why: "Jamaica has few colleges. It was important for me to have a choice and to be independent."
Likes best: "In Jamaica, if I would get an entry-level job, I'd have very little hope of working my way up the ranks. Whereas in America, I do feel I generally have more opportunity. I can be whoever I want to be without getting a second look."
**
Idrissa Cherif Aidara, 42, publisher of Le Griot newspaper and livery driver, Harlem
Arrived: 1990 from Agboville, Ivory Coast
How: Tourist visa
Why: "I heard about how people can make the dream, can start their own business, have their own enterprise."
Likes best: "It's easy here to start any kind of business without big blocks from authorities."
**
Vseva Malishev, 22, Web programmer, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Arrived: 2004 from Tashkent, Uzbekistan
How: Sponsored by father, a Russian Jewish refugee who fled Islamic persecution
Why: "Many of the native people in Uzbekistan don't like Russians very much. Russians cannot have good profession, like manager, like positions in government."
Likes best: "There is a lot of opportunity, a lot of stuff to do, there are no boundaries. It's great! If you want to work, you'll get some money - but it's not easy."
**
Nyvrose Mompoint-Fleurant, 34, social worker at Haitian Americans United for Progress, Cambria Heights, Queens
Arrived: 1998 from Cap-Haitien, Haiti
How: Family sponsored green card, became a U.S. citizen in 2003
Why: "I wanted to be with my family. I waited 10 years to reunite with my mom."
Likes best: "You can do whatever you want if you put the effort into it. But in Haiti, you may try and try, but you won't have the opportunities to realize your dream."
**
Jose Rodriguez, 50, building maintenance worker and community organizer with the New York Civic Participation Project, Washington Heights
Arrived: 1999 from San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic
How: Family-sponsored green card, became a U.S. citizen in 2004
Why: "I wanted a better life and to be with my mother, father and brothers."
Like best: "The freedom and the opportunity to improve professionally, economically and culturally."
** [IMG]http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/254-kargbo_m.JPG[/IMG] Mariatu Kargbo, 36, caregiver for disabled children, Jamaica, Queens
Arrived: 1997 from Freetown, Sierra Leone
How: As a refugee, became a U.S. citizen in 2004
Why: "Because of the [civil] war in my country. They killed my uncle, two of my brothers, my stepmother - she's still missing. Only God saved us. We were lucky to escape."
Likes best: "A lot. America is like a land of opportunity. If you come and really work hard, you will get it. As long as you have the right papers, you can do whatever you want to do."
**
Nishat Islam, 28, unemployed Muslim activist with Desis Rising Up & Moving - DRUM - Jackson Heights, Queens
Arrived: 1996 from Dhaka, Bangladesh
How: Tourist visa
Why: "To make money so that we can send money back home to our family. We are really low income. But the jobs I find here paid me $5 per hour."
Likes best: "When we have a health emergency, the hospital can't refuse to help you. They give you the treatment. They ask for money [only] after they treat you. This is not possible in my country."
** [IMG]http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/151-ker_r.JPG[/IMG] Ricky Ker46, manager of Goodies Shanghai Cuisine Restaurant, Flushing, Queens
Arrived: 1998 from Ipoh, Malaysia
How: Business visa
Why: "[The] United States is more advanced, and I wanted a better future for my kids. I wanted them to carry on with their studies, gain college degrees."
Likes best: "You have a chance to challenge your life. In my country, you want to do something but there are so many obstacles if you don't have connections. But here, you can apply yourself and you can reach your dream."
** [IMG]http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/529-jaramillo_g.JPG[/IMG] Germán Jaramillo52, actor and founder of ID Studio Theater and Alianza Dominicana Theater Project, Morningside Heights
Arrived: 1999 from Bogotá, Colombia
How: Artist's visa
Why: "I did a lot of work in my country for 30 years, and as an actor, the idea of starting a new company in the United States was very exciting for me."
Likes best: "The spirit of tolerance. I feel very comfortable with that. America is a tolerant and open society. People will accept you."
**
Leticia Isidoro, 19, senior at Washington High School, Morrisania, the Bronx
Arrived: 2000 from Mexico City
How: Family sponsored green card, became a U.S. citizen in 2003
Why: "I came to study and reunite with my father."
Likes best: "The technology and that there are economic opportunities."
2005-07-05 21:12 | User Profile
And lets not forget:
Ponce 65, inventor and business owner.
arrived: 1952 from a sugar mill in cuba.
how: American mother.
why: go to school but not for a "better" education.
likes best: the way the US used to be up to 30 years ago, to be retired and secure and be able so say what he wants (for now).
2005-07-05 22:15 | User Profile
[QUOTE=il ragno]Nishat Islam, 28, unemployed Muslim activist[/QUOTE]
Truly, we are blessed.
2005-07-06 00:04 | User Profile
I wonder if the filthy invaders also like best not paying federal income taxes, yet getting all kinds of taxpayer paid benefits that actual Americans usually don't get.
2005-07-06 04:30 | User Profile
So who the hell in government is responsible? Why is an unemployed activist and an artiste needed? Didn't we used to let people in on the basis of need, for us?