An outsider not familiar with Ezra’s Essays might have read the title of this essay and believed it referred to an international law firm.  That is not the case. The title reflects the fact that this is a country of immigrants.  At the moment none of my readers are native Americans such as Cherokee, Iroquois, and other such tribes. There is one reader named Sven Lernevall who is a citizen of Sweden.  Aside from Herr Lernevall, the rest of the readers of these essays are all the descendants of immigrants.  I freely admit that my ancestors came to these shores because it beat the place of their birth.  They were starving to death during the famine in Ireland.
In recent months or years we have been engaged in the pursuit of citizenship for two immigrants who wish to become citizens of this country.  As I related in an earlier essay, they waited for more than nine years to get a green card which entitled them to become permanent residents.  There will be a five-year wait from that time until they are granted full citizenship.  I hope to be around when that happens.
I cringe when politicians and other public figures proclaim that the United States is the creation of God and the greatest country in the whole world.  The fact of the matter is we don’t lead much of anything anymore.  A large part of the reason for our falling behind has to do with the state of the education of our children.  Our students are being badly outpaced by Asian and European students and we seem to be unable to fix that.  Much of Western Europe, for example, leads us in the production of college graduates.  A few miles east of here in Newark, New Jersey, the graduation rate from high school is an abysmal 11 or 12%.
Certainly in terms of infrastructure, this country is not the greatest in the world by any means.  Other countries have trains that run on time.  The Chinese tested a train just last week between Beijing and Shanghai whose speed reached 300 miles per hour.  The best we could do is the pedestrian route of the Acela which runs between Boston and Washington.  Judy and I have ridden that train and I suspect that the maximum rate of speed barely reaches 75 miles per hour.
It gets no better in the air or on the ground.  Our air transport system is overcrowded and now very expensive.  And our roads are not much better than they were 5 years ago.  Our bridges are sadly in need of repair and replacement.
Aside from not taking care of our educational needs and our infrastructure, we find that the right wing of our political system actively opposes immigration.  Many of them are intent upon finding illegal immigrants and sending them to locations where they may be deported.  This is a tragic situation.  It leads me to the belief that the genius of this country is that we have always taken refugees from around the world and turned them into industrious Americans.  The motto “E Pluribus Unum” which is “From many one” would apply to the United States.  While I deplore what the right wing of our political spectrum wishes to do to immigrants, I applaud what has been accomplished thus far by those immigrants.
For example, look at the restaurants.  Look at what the immigrants have done to introduce other Americans to their native cuisines.  In nearly every town, we can find Italian, Japanese, Chinese, French, Indian, Mexican and other restaurants offering food that has been produced by immigrant chefs.
Aside from the culinary arts, think about what we have gained musically.  There are as many variations in music as there are in restaurants.
For many years I have engaged in the delightful pursuit of where Americans trace their ancestry to.  I believe that I am not alone in thinking about ancestry.  Dr. Blaustein, from the title of this essay, is one who thought a good bit about the ancestry of Americans that he has run across.  For example he and I had a lively conversation about another doctor in the Summit Medical Group named Volpe.  Dr. Blaustein seemed to think that Dr. Volpe was German.  I have been a patient of Dr. Volpe and I know that his name is Italian.  But in any case this is a lively bit of speculation that I engage in regularly.
Now look at it this way.  If we had remained subjects of the English crown, the names of our neighbors would be Mr. Brown, Mr. Jones, Mr. Byfield, and the rest of the English names.  Beyond that, if we had remained subjects of the English monarchy, we would be eating absolutely tasteless food.  When was the last time that you heard a person say that he or she wanted to visit a new English restaurant?  Before I left employment with the Bell System, I had secretaries by the name Scheller, Giovi, and  Impellizari.  That would suggest German ancestors in one case and Italian in another.  So you see the “E Pluribus Unum” part at work.
Perhaps all of this could be expressed in the famous work by Emma Lazarus who wrote the poem that is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty.  The poem goes:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
 
We may have our arguments as Americans.  But this elderly Yankee hopes that the spirit of the poem by Emma Lazarus lasts forever.
Now as to the title, Michael Yanacone’s family came to this country from Italy where the name was spelt Iannaccone.  He is an expert at tuck-pointing of brick chimneys.  When we have a need for a Certified Public Accountant, we seek the advice of Andrew Yadamiec, who is the product of a marriage between a Polish person and an Italian.  The third person in the title is Howard Blaustein, a learned physician who specializes in diseases of the lungs.  And finally, Dave Muldowney, also a CPA, represents the Irish contingent.  So you see that we have been working at turning “E Pluribus Unum” into a reality.  And this country remains a nation of immigrants.  What could be better than that?
 
E. E. CARR
December 4, 2010
Essay 516
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Kevin’s commentary:
In this type of scenario I always think of three core problems.
First is the naturalization process which is both difficult and slow as all get out. This creates pressure on immigrants to come to the country illegally, which damages their reputation as a group and makes them unable to benefit from — and pay into — the system that is supposed to encompass everyone in the country.
Second is just plain xenophobia from American citizens.  The US isn’t the only country guilty of this, but it doesn’t help. I would propose making sure at least every medium-sized city in the states has a handful of good Thai, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, etc places. Evangelism via food seems like a surefire way of doing things.
Last is actually an issue inside the immigrant communities themselves, which increasingly cluster up, become insular, and refuse to really assimilate in the ways to which the American population is largely accustomed. This isn’t bad in a vacuum and actually makes a whole lot of sense but I feel like it still hinders progress on the xenophobia front.