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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Emigrants give far more to America than they take --Time to stop racist anti-emigrant sentiment

Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 09:03 PM
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Immigrant children arriving to a new land
If there is one sentiment that bothers me at present it is the oft repeated lie that emigrants always take American jobs.

It has been my experience that emigrants far from taking jobs, create them.

Let's take an incredible example, Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.

Here is an emigrant from Russia who started one of the world's greatest companies.

No doubt there are many America Firsters out there who would prefer he never came to these shores because he would 'take' an American job.'

He now employs close to 10,000 Americans and gets 1,300 resumes a day from people seeking to work at Google.

Over half the start-ups in Silicon Valley are by emigrants, yes, that despised class that many America Firsters seem to believe belong in the nearest jail.

In my own experience as an emigrant, I never worked for an American company in my life.

I came to the US as a school teacher. After a brief period as a house painter I stated my own newspapers and have been working for myself ever since -- and employing many Americans along the way.

I love what this country has given me and hope I have given back -- partly by providing jobs for some Americans.

So when anti-immigrant groups such as Numbers USA start their usual rant that America is full up of foreigners and doesn't need any others I ask you to think of Sergey Brin, Albert Einstein, Nobel winner Eli Wiesel and many other magnificent emigrants to this country who have made such a profound difference

Only that way will we have any understanding of the massive up-side of emigration.


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46 comments

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joycean | Feb 23, 2012, 03:43 PM EST
In this country, we are just beginning to see the end of social engineering to "correct" racism. My children were bussed to school to create racially balanced schools; the Boston Irish neighborhoods were distroyed. There is a case before the Surpreme Court on whether race should be considered in college admissions. So a rich black kid gets preference over a poor white kid. We have seen enough Affirmative Action. When O'Dowd insists that we "owe" something to immigrants or the Irish, I have had quite enough. Help people who are in poverty, out-of-work, ill, old. Never mind what race.

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joycean | Feb 23, 2012, 03:25 PM EST
ciara, there was a book titled "How the Irish Became White." The title is serious. In the 19th Century, White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestants saw the Irish as unevolved simians, indistinquishable from blacks. Professionals in England, Germany, America believed races had different levels of development. The theory was the basis of Nazi Germany's quest for an Arian race and Final Solution of wiping out Jews; and the theory behind segregating blacks and whites in the US. When someone on this site whines about NIMA, that is his point. In Ireland there were two phases. The first claimed the Irish were unevolved. Toward the end of the 19th Cent. with the rise of Irish nationalism, the Abbey Theater, GAA, resurrecting the Irish language, Irish nationslists claimed "Irish" was indeed a race,Celts. Another twist on this is Post-Colonialism: belief that 19th Cent. Colonialist nations are responsible for harm caused their former colonies: ie.those insisting the Famine was genocide.

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ciaradexy | Feb 23, 2012, 11:11 AM EST
Joycean, what are you talking about? Irish people in the UK dont scream racism! Irish people and the Brits are completely integrated both here, in the UK and in my experience ,in Australia and New Zealand too! Anywhere I visit in the world where there are Irish people, they will ALWAYS be hanging out with the Brits! Every single one of my mates here has British mates. There is no animosity.

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joycean | Feb 23, 2012, 08:57 AM EST
bogsidebunny, I have a theory that the Irish like to scream "racism" because it works if their are immigrants in Engalnd. I've lived with enough of the results of Black-White (including Irish) racial conflict to be tired of it. In this country, we are the bad guys. Let's not start another round.

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joycean | Feb 23, 2012, 08:48 AM EST
like2tweet, I have. My grandparents came from Ireland. My grandfather worked on the railroad. But, The United States didn't bring him here as a slave. It took him in and gave him the opportunity to live a better life here. He worked hard, but Irish Americans are the big, big winners in this country because they came at the time when this country was expanding, there were jobs. Their children and grandchildren received college educations, and are now among the best educated and wealthiest Americans. Growth in this country has slowed, and we need to concetrate on the 312million people here.

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GeorgeDillon | Feb 23, 2012, 02:50 AM EST
greensod: "Lets get an opinion from the American indians on this one. I forgot,their opinion was never asked for." Right on. Just like the opinion of the 17th-century Irish was never asked about the Plantations. Oh, wait a minute. Just like the 21st century Irish were never asked about Mass Immigration either!

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like2tweet | Feb 22, 2012, 07:57 PM EST
Joycean have yu ever read who built the transcontinental railroad-- the irish and the Chinese, the Americans could not hack the back breaking work. Have you ever read about the 250,000 irish who fought for the Union in the Civil War, have you ever read that the greatest number of medal of honor winners are the irish, have you ever read about No irish Need Apply... read your history mate

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joycean | Feb 22, 2012, 07:45 PM EST
What "racism" is O'Dowd talking about? I live in the South, and "racism" here refers to African-American discrimination. But Africann-Americans were among the first settlers, they are not emigrants. Africans coming to this country do not have the argument that the United States owes reparations for past sins against their forefathers. Hispanics claim parts of the South West were stolen from Mexicans. One group that has no right to claim "racism" is the Irish. The Famine Irish came here during the Industrial Revolution and profitted from the country's need for a large pool of labor. Ireland did not send them to help out. The descendants of those Irish have been repaid for their labor through the opportunities their children received. The United States owes the Irish nothing.

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ConnieCobe | Feb 22, 2012, 07:28 PM EST
I get real tired of hearing this poor me mentality. Really? I have not heard one person ever comment negatively about the Irish coming here to work. I believe they have alot to offer my country and I also believe Americans can and do offer alot to Ireland as well. Can't we all just play nice?

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JohnKinMD | Feb 22, 2012, 07:12 PM EST
I have a problem with illegals.

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greensod | Feb 22, 2012, 05:20 PM EST
Lets get an opinion from the American indians on this one.O I forgot,their opinion was never asked for.

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seanomelb | Feb 22, 2012, 05:06 PM EST
Georgy boy is playing the racist card again and again and.......

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irishpjk | Feb 22, 2012, 05:05 PM EST
The old time Irish helped make this country great, todays Irish coming over want to collect on what the think is owed to that group.

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sirpeter | Feb 22, 2012, 04:23 PM EST
Yeah!! Georgie Boy. Stop you're racist anti-emigrant sentiment.You're upsetting my British milkman and my Polish house cleaner.

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GeorgeDillon | Feb 22, 2012, 04:09 PM EST
rpbrown: "how difficult Ireland's immigration policies are as well." You made the mistake of telling them you are an American. You should have purchased a Nigerian passport (easily available for 50 bucks in Dublin) and gone back to Irish Immigration screaming "Wacists!" They'd have given you a free house and an Irish passport in no time.

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