Thanksgiving Thoughts - Immigrants and Refugees

With the emigrant crisis in Syria and surrounding countries, and the posturing of American politicians regarding immigrants and refugees, I thought I'd share a few of my own views, and what I know of my family history, regarding the United States of America. Unless you are a Native American, or Indian (as Columbus and other voyagers mistakenly called them), including the so-called "Hispanic mixes" (all of Native American races) in the southwestern United States, you are an immigrant somewhere along your family tree.  If you're African-American, your ancestors were brought to the Americas without a choice; if you're Caucasian, someone, somewhere along in history, decided to leave the country in which they were born, and to live permanently in what is now the United States.  According to the dictionary, an immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in another country.  A refugee is a person forced to leave their country of birth in order to escape war, persecution, or a natural disaster.
   I believe that the majority of my ancestors were immigrants to the New World.  I know that several of them were refugees from war and persecution.  One of my ancestors was a trader in early Virginia, who (supposedly) married a Powhatan woman.  One of my ancestors signed up as a bond-servant in London, and worked on a tobacco plantation for seven years, six days a week, to earn his right to be known as a free man.  One part of the family - a many, many-times Great-uncle - arrived aboard the Mayflower, which was a ship full of religious refugees seeking relief of persecution in England and the Netherlands.  (My direct ancestor, the Mayflower guy's younger brother, came over to the colonies a few years later and became the coffin-maker for Plymouth and the surrounding area.)  I know I have a couple of French Huguenot ancestors, who came to the colonies as religious refugees.  I'm not quite sure of the reason for immigrating for the few Germans in the tree.  My great-great-grandfather left Denmark to avoid fighting in a war against Germany, and arrived here in the USA in time for our Civil War.  My great-grandparents, and my grandfather, held dual citizenships in both the United States and Sweden.
  In  my family tree, I am more than half English, with the Swedish and Danish mixed in.  But, truly, if you look at the history of England - Great Britain, that is - one sees that they, themselves, are a hodge-podge mixture of races and ethnicities, too.  You have the early Picts, followed by the Celts, followed by the Britons, followed by the Romans, (not to mention the mixing in of Scots and Irish) followed by the Vikings, followed by the Normans (who were originally Vikings), followed by waves of settlers from Flanders, the Netherlands, and various other European and African countries.
   Ninety-nine point nine percent of all my ancestors were immigrants and/or refugees that arrived on the shore of North America with hopes, dreams, and no land.  To my knowledge, America has accepted refugees from every country in the world.  Since our wake-up call to terrorism on September 11, 2001, the United States has admitted over 1 million people seeking refugee status.  Four of those million have been arrested for terrorism charges in the 14 years since.  In my mind, that means our system of checking out the backgrounds and histories of people who want to escape tyranny is pretty damn good.  (That is 0.0004 percent, by the way.)
   I think that refusing any refugee, no matter their race, creed or religion, is a slap in the face to our ancestors, and the Founding Fathers of this nation.  I think that Senators, Congressmen, and Governors should face recalls for refusing to support refugees.  Where the heck would they be, if not for an open immigration and refugee on the part of our government?

   Thank you for letting me get on my soap-box and have my say.

Extremes

Yesterday ended up being cloudy here in Boulder, while this morning, the skies are cloudless, but we have higher than normal humidity (for Colorado).  At least we're not suffering from tornadoes and flooding or from wildfires at the moment.  In California and New Mexico, however, the continuing drought is taking it's toll.  The Powerhouse fire, near Lake Hughes in California, has burned over 25,000 acres and is about 40% contained.  More than 1,000 homes are in danger, and more than 2,400 people have been evacuated.  And the territory burning in California hasn't seen a fire  since 1929.  There are two fires burning in New Mexico, with the largest being the Pecos fire, that has already destroyed 7,476 acres of Ponderosa pine.
  Europe, in the meantime, has flooding problems due to heavy rains.  A meteorologist in Austria stated they had more rain fall in two days than usually falls in two years.  Austria, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic have all undergone flooding so far.  Slovakia and Hungary are preparing themselves for the onslaught of the water.  So far, the flooding has caused six known deaths, and eight other people are missing.
  And, if fires, floods, and twisters aren't enough for you in the US, go to Moody, Texas.  Over the weekend, a 62-year-old man was stung to death by an estimated 40,000 Africanized "killer" bees.  He was on his tractor, clearing some property, and hit a woodpile that bumped into an old chicken coop.  The bee expert who removed the swarm estimated the number of bees as at least 40,000.  Regular bees and honeybees protect their nests by stinging, but only 10% of their population will attack an intruder.  In a hybrid, Africanized hive, every bee except the queen will attack.
   Finally, looking at Saturday's Belmont Stakes:  It has been decided that Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner, is working well enough to be entered in the third leg of the Triple Crown.  Two other definite contenders will be Will Take Charge and Oxbow, the winner of the Preakness.  Gary Stevens has been in Oxbow's saddle for the previous two races, and will be again on Saturday.  But this past Saturday, Gary's mount broke down under him during a race, and he suffered a fall, which caused him not to ride his mounts on Sunday.  He Tweeted trainer D. Wayne Lukas, reminding him that he fell a week before he and Winning Colors won the Derby, too.  Keep on riding, Gary!!

American West Photos

Crater Lake, Oregon

 

Sunrise at Yosemite National Park

 

Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado

 

Snow and fog in the Grand Canyon, Arizona