08-19-2016, 02:16 PM
Integration seems to be the hang-up.
Americans pat themselves on the back about how they were inclusive and integrated and that would be praiseworthy, had it actually happened. It didn't and the myth that it did is one of the problems we deal with today.
America was never a homogeneous or welcoming place, it was simply and plainly a place that needed to import more people who looked like each other and were needy enough to go through the privations (they were severe beyond anything we can imagine) and then on arrival displace the people who lived here before them.
Without getting into North American heritage, imagine how horrible it must have been for a mother and father to bundle themselves and their children into steerage on a ship to escape the horror that was then their life. Think about what must have been in their minds "we can stay and starve like your aunts, uncles and cousins" or we can roll the dice and get on board and have about a 18% chance of even surviving to tell the tale.
Europe and most of the rest of the world were actually less a threat and thus did many disadvantaged (read poor) folks head West (East if you were disadvantaged, Asian and wanted to build railroads)
Americans pat themselves on the back about how they were inclusive and integrated and that would be praiseworthy, had it actually happened. It didn't and the myth that it did is one of the problems we deal with today.
America was never a homogeneous or welcoming place, it was simply and plainly a place that needed to import more people who looked like each other and were needy enough to go through the privations (they were severe beyond anything we can imagine) and then on arrival displace the people who lived here before them.
Without getting into North American heritage, imagine how horrible it must have been for a mother and father to bundle themselves and their children into steerage on a ship to escape the horror that was then their life. Think about what must have been in their minds "we can stay and starve like your aunts, uncles and cousins" or we can roll the dice and get on board and have about a 18% chance of even surviving to tell the tale.
Europe and most of the rest of the world were actually less a threat and thus did many disadvantaged (read poor) folks head West (East if you were disadvantaged, Asian and wanted to build railroads)