A message to the people opposing illegal immigration

[RagingInMiami]

Federal law or no federal law. Border fence or no border fence. Minutemen or no minutemen. There is nothing that can be done to stop the flood of Mexicans from entering this country.

They will continue entering this country even though they know they will be exploited; even though they might end up dying in the scorching desert; even though they know they fill face racism and deportation.

After all, it’s only evolution. Survival of the fittest. The latest example of global migration, which has been happening throughout the world since the beginning of mankind.

As humans, we are nomadic people. We are restless. And we are survivors.

If that weren’t the case, we would still be living in Africa with dark skin and kinky hair while the rest of the earth’s land masses remained vacant.

But migration began immediately after the first humans evolved in Africa. At first, they spread though the continent. Then they dispersed to what became India and Australia. And then they moved into Europe and Asia.

And over the years, the people created their own civilizations, taking on physical characteristics that made them more adaptable to their geographic location. The humans that settled in Asia ventured up to Siberia, trekked across the Bering Strait and down through North and South America. They became various tribes and civilizations, including the Aztecs and the Mayans, who later became the Mexicans.

It is no coincidence that Native Americans share physical features and language similarities with the Asians.

And the migration continued over the years as civilizations survived and died, learning from one another, killing one another, mating with one other.

The Celts became the Irish, the Scotch and the Welsh. The Moors invaded Spain, giving the Spanish their dark hair and eyes, making their woman exotically beautiful.

And the English, Dutch, Spanish, French, Germans and Scandinavians migrated to the United States, each of them leaving their mark and influence while being influenced by the other.

I’ve always thought that the beauty of this country was how we became Americans but retained bits and pieces of our own ancestors. Because of the French/Italian/African influence of New Orleans, it was always one of my favorite cities.

I remember being amazed ten years ago as I sat in a Dublin pub listening to “traditional Irish music.” To me, it sounded like bluegrass music. I later found out that it was the Scotch-Irish who settled in the Appalachian Valley, birth of bluegrass music.

Down here in Miami, we have the Cuban influence. Most of the Cubans came from Galicia, Spain, which had been settled years ago by the Celts. In other words, the Cubans and the Irish are distant cousins. No wonder the Cubans are so crazy.

The Cuban sandwich is a staple down here. Like the taco in the Southwest, which itself is a holdover from the Aztecs. But the Cuban sandwich, a simple concoction of ham, pork and Swiss on Cuban bread, is derived from similar sandwiches in Spain.

But if you drive up to Tampa, which is where the Cubans originally settled decades before Castro, you will notice a distinct difference in the Cuban sandwiches. In addition to the ham, pork and cheese, they put salami in the sandwiches.

After all, Tampa had an Italian settlement around the time the Cubans settled there in the early 1900s.

So if you believe this current crop of Mexican immigrants is going to drastically change the country, then you’re not following history. The Mexicans will eventually become Americans. They will lose most of their language. And they will lose most of their tradition and culture.

But they will also acquire new customs and traditions from their neighbors and co-workers while passing on the pieces of their own culture they retained.

If that didn’t happen, then we would all still be speaking the languages of our ancestors, whether it be Swahili, Yiddish, French, Italian or Old English.

So my advice is to accept it. To embrace it. To cherish the experience of discovering the differences and similarities between the cultures.

But if you’re unable to do that because of xenophobia or fear that you’ll be in direct competition with them for work, I suggest you either move to another part of the country where you can be with your own people, or improve your working skills so you won’t feel threatened by a non-English speaking Mexican.

After all, evolution should always take its natural course.