Reflections on City of Big Shoulders

Now that I have some new-found reading time, I picked up The City of Big Shoulders by Robert Spinney again. I'm really loving this book. It's the only concise history of Chicago I could find, and it is awesome. As I'm reading it, my conviction that Chicago is the greatest city in the world continues to be bolstered. It makes me want to move down into the city and become a tour guide. It has also given me some perspective on the current immigration issue.

Between 1880 and 1920, millions of Europeans emigrated to the United States. Unlike the waves of immigration before, this period mostly saw people from southern and eastern Europe who spoke little or no English. This was the so-called "New Immigration." These immigrates mostly moved into ethnic enclaves in the major American cities taking unskilled low-paying jobs such as meat-packing or other manual labor.

The dominant Anglo-American population at the time characterized these immigrants as anti-American, lazy, atheist socialists, and there was considerable discrimation toward them. But, in actuality these families simply wanted something better for their children (which was the exact smae position the Anglo-Americans were in a few generations before). Indeed, the children of these immigrants excelled and eventually integrated into the mainstream of American society.

Now we're in a similar position with Hispanics in this country. These families for the most part want the same thing we want for our families. It seems that many of us do have some unspoken prejudices toward Hispanics, which manifests itself in apprehension toward welcoming these people into our country. Now, I'm not suggesting "open boarders," but allowing immigrants, legal or illegal an opportunity to gain for their children the same things our grandparents gained for us.