Immigrant Influx

Greetings Newcomer, you seem to be getting along quite well these last few days. However, you still seem to be in need. Your lips are cracked and dry, parched with a moral thirst. Fear not, for Ronan the Ranter has arrived! Today will be your first taste of what The Walls of Jericho has to offer. So sit back and relax, allow to me assuage all fears and concerns. Just be sure to keep your mind open while I spin my yarn, and you will discover the deeper order. This is The Walls of Jericho!

From the turbulent cities of New York and Philadelphia, to the provincial towns of the West, cries permeate the air. The fear of immigrants strains the hearts and minds of all. Newspapers, such as the New York Times, herald the misgivings: "It would be monstrous for us to permit the country, or any part of it, to be overrun by paupers or criminals" (1). Deemed to be "unworthy and un-American" (1), immigrants are said to "have no intention of becoming good citizens" (1). Some may even be so bold as to claim these people possess "an incapacity and an aversion for becoming American citizens" (1). Indeed, there is a fear that American may become a "'colony'" for these immigrants (1). The question remains: what shall be done to curb their blatantly malicious influence?

In truth, the question as already been answered by time. Indeed, there may have been a misunderstanding about the quotes used above. Oh, they are from a New York Times article; however, it was not recently penned. On the contrary, it was published on June 16, 1888!

Not Mexicans, South Americans, or even Arabs, this article concerns itself with Italians, Germans, Irish, and Scandinavians. Contemporarily, individuals of those ethnicities have become the harbingers of the anti-immigration movement. Men such as Patrick Buchanan, of German and Irish descent, (2) and Tom Tancredo, of Italian descent (3), are hypocrites. They perpetrate the same hatred and prejudices the Nativists held over 100 years ago. Gone are the days where signs read "No Irish Need Apply" (4), they have been replaced with signs ordering restruant goers to speak only in English (5).

Illegal immigration is a problem (6), no one is debating that. However, there is a fine line between protecting America's borders and outright xenophobia. People must remember, and take to heart, the Statue of Liberty's inscription:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "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-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" (7).

Sources:
1) "UNREGULATED IMMIGRATION." New York Times. New York, N.Y.: Jun 16, 1888 pg. 1. Reproduced in Historical Newspapers. Proquest, 2008. http://hn.bigchalk.com/hnweb/hn/do/search
2) "Patrick Joseph Buchanan." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
3) "2008 Presidential Candidate Tom Tancredo ‎(Republican)" GEDview. http://www.gedview.com/tancredo/index.php?ctype=gedcom
4) "Classified Ad 2 -- No Title" New York Daily Times. New York, N.Y.: Nov 10, 1854 pg. 1. Reproduced in Historical Newspapers. Proquest, 2008. http://hn.bigchalk.com/hnweb/hn/do/search
5) Associated Press. "Bistec con queso? Not at Geno's Steaks." FOXnews.com. June 08, 2006. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198757,00.html
6) Davidson, Adam. "Q&A: Illegal Immigrants and the U.S. Econom." NPR.org. March 30, 2006. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5312900
7) Lazarus, Emma. "The New Colossus." Poets.org. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16111

The Gates Open

After journeying through the scorching heat and peril of the desert, you have finally arrived. Standing before you are The Walls of Jericho - my walls. This is my home, my land, my domain. You must be thirsty, so come on in.

The world is a treacherous place, a desert of depravity and sickness. Not here, though, not within my walls. Fear not for I will protect you, I will feed and clothe you, and I will redeem you. I am Ronan, the resident ranter. I welcome you to humanity's last solace of sanity. I welcome you to The Walls of Jericho. Please, come in! Drink, and be merry! Tell me your tale, and I'll tell you mine. But first, please come in!