Stage Irish Woman Shows Mexicans the Way
A story from Denver today of Irish ancestry and immigration, leading into a request to a commitment to the United States from Mexican immigrants which takes the form of first being able to “read, write and speak English”.
This is an allusion to the naturalization process and route to citizenship of the US, but it does ignore a couple of things:
1. It is possible to become a legal immigrant without necessarily becoming an American citizen.
2. The requirement to have “the ability to read, write, and speak English” is only a general requirement in the process of naturalization, and is not always required:
All naturalization applicants must demonstrate good moral character, attachment, and favorable disposition. The other naturalization requirements may be modified or waived for certain applicants, such as spouses of U.S. citizens.
David O’Shea Dawkins’ Great-Great-Grandmother left Ireland in 1850 because of the famine:
Now, the ocean journey on “coffin ships” was threatening and their likes were not always welcomed when they arrived in the United States. They stopped speaking Irish (Gaelic), yet spoke with a brogue and took jobs no Americans would take. The men filed their petitions and became naturalized citizens. They worked on Mr. Tilden’s farm in upstate New York until they could afford to move west. They were farmers, but it was the railroad they labored on and it was the railroad that brought Ellen to Denver in 1890. In the final summer of her life, having outlived her husband Michael and eight of her nine children, Ellen Nash O’Shea would be buried in America - as an American
David, thinking back a hundred years and several generations, has no doubt that over the years Ellen, while having her morning tea, would stop crying about missing Ireland and whisper:
Sure now, ’tis enough of that. Glory be, not a tear for sadness I’ll be crying, but a prayer I’ll be saying for my blessings. Sure now, to live in the United States of America - ’tis a blessing and a privilege
This is of course utter tosh. Nobody talks like this, and nobody has ever talked like this. Maybe before asking Mexicans to have “a knowledge and understanding of U.S. history”, Dawkins might do a little homework of his own.
Speaking of the Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America that one takes for Naturalization, perhaps you know somebody who has taken it. This being an Irish website, perhaps it’s Irish people you know who have taken this oath. But tell me, do you think they meant it when they took it? Did they really mean it when they said they absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to Ireland?
Just wondering why Mexicans always have to become loyal citizens, when Irish people are becoming citizens for reasons of expediency?
See Also:
• Kris Kobach, Timmy McVeigh & the Mexican Wall Climbers
• Irish Home Rule causes 50 years of British misery
• Feast or Famine: Emigration Assistance
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
Americans have long had a romanticized eye on Irish culture. That Hollywood gave them a version which appeared “quaint” speaks only to demand. A romanticized version of Mexican culture might appear given the same lapse of time; however, this roots phenomenon will inevitably shroud the realities in a similar jade. The common thread here, of course, is reality. It’s not diluted enough to be palatable. Information, lacking gloss or sensationalism, never passes for entertainment, and without entertainment, how on earth could we ever have education?
you don’t know what you are talking about .
Edson,
Are you referring to Point number 1 or 2 - which are both US Law, or are you referring to the nonsense written by your neighbour in Denver as he imagines how an Irish person many generations ago would talk?
It\’s fair to say I don\’t know what you are talking about.