Assignment 13: Immigration

This assignment sparked a night of reminiscing and storytelling for my family. It was interesting to hear about my ancestors and their journeys. Both sides of my family are of mostly of Scandinavian descent. I am mostly Norwegian, along with some German, Irish, and English. My great great grandparents were the first to come to America on both sides of my family. 

I don't know much about the immigration story on my Dad’s side of the family. When I asked him about it he was pretty sure his great great grandparents on his dad's side were the first to come to America from Norway. They came over in the mid 1800's and settled in North Dakota, where my dad grew up.  His great great grandpa's name was originally Mons Yterli, but his children took on the last name of Monson when they were born in the United States. I do not know the details of how or why his mom's grandparents came here. All I know is that they were immigrants from Ireland and England who settled in North Dakota. They met and married in North Dakota.

 I know a little bit more about my Mom's side of the family. The name Monson is on my Mom's side of the family as well, but there is no relation to my father’s side that we know of. The first of her family to come to America was her great great grandpa on her mom's side, Hans Monson. He came over with his brother in the 1860's from Trevanger Norway to find work in the U.S. and begin a new life. They left their wives and children behind, and worked on the railroads in Missouri for a few years, until they found out there was land for sale in Lamberton, Minnesota (southwest part of the state). They bought land and began farming, which allowed them to bring their wives and children over to the U.S. after three or four years. My great-great grandfather bought a loom for his wife before leaving Norway so that she would have a way to earn a living while he was in America. This is how she supported the family while he saved money and got settled in America.

 

Charles Ford Pooch (1865)
after the Civil War

On my mom's dad's side, her great grandpa, Charles Pooch (Polk) came to America around 1860 from Prussia, which used to be a part of Germany, but is now Poland. Back then, in Prussia, they had a law that once you turned 21, you were automatically drafted into the military. His family left before Charles turned 21 in order to avoid him being drafted. When he arrived here, he settled into Wisconsin, and interestingly fought in the Civil War here. He fought for the North in many of the major battles – Gettysburg and Appomattox among them - and became quite a war hero. He was the only one in his battalion to survive one of the battles, and he went on to continue fighting with another battalion. During the war, he went by the name of Charles Ford. Many soldiers changed their last names in order to protect their families from retaliation from the other side. After serving in the civil War,  he and his family moved to farm land in Lamberton MN, and became neighbors with my maternal Grandma's side of the family. The Monsons and the Polks of my grandparents generation knew one another their entire lives, and this is how my maternal grandparents met.

 Today in the United States, Europeans make up a very small portion of the immigrants compared to those from South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Asia. If my family was arriving to America today, they probably would come across many of the same challenges that they did in their day, including language barriers, difficulty finding work, acceptance by other who arrived earlier in America,and so on. I think, today, it would be easier for a Norwegian family to be accepted and integrated into the population, for example, than a Somalian family. Norwegians are Caucasian, and since my family looks similar to other “white” Americans, there are fewer negative racial stereotypes attached to them. This is sad, but so true in our country. When the topic of immigration pops up, you almost always hear it in reference to the growing Latino/a population crossing the southern borders.  It may be harder for them to find work, education, housing, and live a comfortable life. Today the word immigration holds, for many, a very negative connotation. It is a sensitive and controversial  topic in America. The focus is on “illegal immigrants” that come over the Mexican border and into the United States. Many fear that immigrants are taking away jobs from Americans. It is very much a focus of “this is mine, and it is not for you”. It comes from a place of fear, rather than being willing to reach out to others and welcome the diversity that other cultures bring to our population.

The question of why the subject of immigration is so volatile, in a country where almost everyone's family came to the United States from another country is something I have thought about before. European immigrants came to America, and “conquered” the land and its people; taking it from the Native Americans, and attempting to wipe out the Native American race as a whole. It seems incredibly hypocritical that, in today’s world, some people in our government and certain citizen groups fight so hard to keep immigrants out of the United States.  We are a nation of immigrants. Unless we are Native American, we – or our family members before us – were immigrants to this country. Immigrants of yesterday and today come to the United States of America for the same reasons – the chance at a better life for their loved ones, freedom from tyrannical governments, freedom of religion, etc. How can we slam the doors in the faces of people who, except for a difference of when they arrived in the United States, are seeking the same things in their lives today? Some people feel that the U.S. is theirs, and they know what is right for everyone. It is the same mentality of entitlement and possession that the Europeans used to seize the land from the Native Americans who had been here for thousands of years before them. Now it is being directed in the opposite direction to those who dare think they can enter into the U.S. today. “Some conservative politicians consider the millions of illegal immigrants in the country to be invaders who threaten national security, take away jobs from U.S. citizens, and change the culture by refusing to assimilate.” (Newman 457). Other fears are that immigrants will bring disease, clog our education systems, and "soak up social benefits" (459). These are the assumptions that fuel the volatile attitudes towards immigration in America. Over the last years, government - at federal and state levels- have spent billions of dollars on fixing the “immigration problem”. We have constructed a wall along the Mexican border, increased border patrol, and created harsher laws against illegal immigrants. There is fear that English will not be the primary language, that the Caucasian race will no longer be “dominant”, and that the United States of America will no longer be in the hands of “white” men. These people operate from a place of fear – a fear of losing their importance, their power, their world created in their mind exactly as they think it should be. Let’s hope that voices of reason – of acceptance and tolerance – can be heard over the screaming voices of the strident “Right” who would continue our immigration policies of exclusion rather than inclusion. We have a long way to go.

Works Cited:

Newman, David (2012). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life: 9th Edition. SAGE Publications.