Dear President Trump:
You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, but I thought I’d introduce myself.
I’m an immigrant from Poland. My adopted country is Canada—that makes us neighbors. I’m North American—and so are Mexican people.
And…if you subscribe to the definition below, we’re also American.
“When used with a grammatical qualifier, the adjective American can mean ‘of or relating to the Americas,’ as in Latin American or Indigenous American.” ~ Wikipedia
“American” can mean a whole lot of things; it does not only relate to white, middle class, “good Christian people” born in the present day United States. If we look back in history, Texas was much less American than it was Mexican.
A border should never mean more than a human life.
Where does the name “America” come from anyway?
“The word America comes from a lesser-known navigator and explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. Like Columbus, Vespucci traveled to the New World (first in 1499 and again in 1502). Unlike Columbus, Vespucci wrote about it. Vespucci’s accounts of his travels were published in 1502 and 1504 and were widely read in Europe. Columbus was also hindered because he thought he had discovered another route to Asia; he didn’t realize America was a whole new continent. Vespucci, however, realized that America was not contiguous with Asia. He was also the first to call it the New World, or Novus Mundus in Latin, in his books.” ~ DictionaryBlog
As it turns out, a cartographer decided on the name of America. I know a lot about Canada’s history, but American history fascinates me also. That includes the history of the people who were already here, before all of us immigrants landed on these shores.
Yup, there were people already here.
I know that history books in American schools teach about Columbus, but I think Amerigo Vespucci should be mentioned to the children as well. He was a foreigner who their country was named after—kind of a cool guy.
More here: https://www.elephantjournal.com/2017/03/an-open-letter-from-an-immigrant-to-president-trump/