This is another foundational myth of the USA. Most of the people who moved from Europe to the USA were relatively privileged, particularly early on. Most of the people on the Mayflower were what we would now call middle class. Educated professionals and skilled tradesmen from England. The Puritans who didn’t have money just couldn’t afford to get out of England.
There weren’t large amounts of poor immigrants until the 19th century, and the USA was deeply discriminatory against them when they came.
Also, I think many black folks and indigenous people did not experience “an objectively better life for their descendants.”
As nice at it has been for the OG WASPs, still, coming to America as a poor peasant worked out way better than living in a village that was razed to the ground. Immigrating to America to have a better life for you and your family isn’t a myth, it’s the lived experience for hundreds of millions of people. You don’t have to make millions to have a decent life.
Immigrating to America to have a better life for you and your family isn’t a myth, it’s the lived experience for hundreds of millions of people
So is being deported for being brown, experiencing daily racism, and being frozen out of better paying jobs and positions.
Is ‘immigrants are successful in America’ really the story that is reflected in the lived experience of immigrants right now in America? Is it the most important story to tell during this political moment? Because where I live immigrants have had to stop attending school and work out of fear of being snatched up off the street.
This is another foundational myth of the USA. Most of the people who moved from Europe to the USA were relatively privileged, particularly early on. Most of the people on the Mayflower were what we would now call middle class. Educated professionals and skilled tradesmen from England. The Puritans who didn’t have money just couldn’t afford to get out of England.
There weren’t large amounts of poor immigrants until the 19th century, and the USA was deeply discriminatory against them when they came.
Also, I think many black folks and indigenous people did not experience “an objectively better life for their descendants.”
As nice at it has been for the OG WASPs, still, coming to America as a poor peasant worked out way better than living in a village that was razed to the ground. Immigrating to America to have a better life for you and your family isn’t a myth, it’s the lived experience for hundreds of millions of people. You don’t have to make millions to have a decent life.
So is being deported for being brown, experiencing daily racism, and being frozen out of better paying jobs and positions.
Is ‘immigrants are successful in America’ really the story that is reflected in the lived experience of immigrants right now in America? Is it the most important story to tell during this political moment? Because where I live immigrants have had to stop attending school and work out of fear of being snatched up off the street.
By the US military or CIA funded death squads in the vast majority of cases.