Have we forgotten?
July 4th, 1776. A day where our great ancestors as English immigrants declared themselves independent from a country, so corrupted and horrid, that they were willing to risk everything, just to leave. They risked their lives, families and every cent they owned, to get a hand in the American dream, which promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our ancestors would have rather died in pools of blood, to give their kids a deserved future, than live a life full of corruption, hate and violence. Yet at some period in time we, as modern Americans, have forgotten the bravery and selflessness of our ancestors who died for the life we live today.
We have not only forgotten our brave ancestors, but we have spat on their dreams, torn apart their families and have given everything we have to keep them out. Although physically, our age of immigrants, are on the other side of our southern border, they still fight for the same rights that our ancestors once did, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the unalienable right to pursue a life of their desire. Yet, as Americans, we fail to see the life of poverty, crime and hate that our southern neighbors would die to be free from, and we can only see the small fact that their lives as a free human beings might cost us a minimal amount of money.
“They take our tax dollars! They bring extensive crime!” And my favorite one, “They take our jobs!” Are all pathetic excuses I have heard from politicians, religious leaders and so many selfish, uneducated people, that we have raised to their highest level of incompetence. Not only was our country built around the immigration of our ancestors, but the land that we now claim as our wild west, was never ours to begin with. In 1848 we forcefully took the Mexican cession, from our neighbors and claimed it as our own, killing off thousands of Mexicans and forcing them away from their homes to move south.
As Americans we are supposed to offer the great American dream to anybody who is willing to fight for it. The life where someone can live without fear, a life where someone can choose the life that they have dreamed of. As Americans we have forgotten the American dream, perhaps we have killed it, but who are we to kill the dreams of southern neighbors? Who are we to force a family to live in a place where the government protects the criminals and corrupts the families among the community? America is supposed to be the place where people can run to when they have nothing left to live for. America was built from oppression, from our ancestors who died to give their children a life, yet we have forgotten to give life, liberty and pursuit of happiness to the ones who need it most. We have forgotten what America is all about.