Letters
The National Immigration Debate
I was shocked to read the following sentence in “A Nation of
Immigrants, A Culture of Nativism”
(DiversityInc – April 2006): “Unless
they are Native American or
descendants of slaves, Americans ...
call the United States home because
of immigration.”
If we are going to define “
immigrant” only as one who chooses to
come, then the statement is not accurate. For example, Georgia was established by the English as a penal colony.
During the early English colonial period, the English courts sentenced minor
offenders to work off their offenses in
all the colonies of North America, and
labor shortages were so severe in North
America that kidnapping of Europeans
to work in America was fairly common. Military conscription meant that
many European soldiers and sailors
arrived here against their wills, and certainly there were wives and children
who had little choice about whether to
come along with the men in their lives.
In short, freedom of choice does not
define what an “immigrant” is.
Lisa Sykes
Pfafftown, N.C.
10 | DiversityInc June 2006
It was with great interest that I
read your article “The History of
Hate” (DiversityInc – April 2006)
on immigration in the United
States. As I reviewed the immigration timeline, I was astounded to
find no mention of the United
States’ shameful response to
European Jews desperate to escape
large-scale slaughter!
This is a part of the United
States’ historic role in immigration.
I wish it had been addressed in your
otherwise excellent article.
Barbara Estes Daily
Training Specialist
City of Longmont, Colo.
I, too, am a fairly recent immigrant to this county. However, I did
apply for my green card and, after
not being allowed to work for [more
than six months], I was able to get a
temporary work permit and then
my green card.
While I respect that many immigrants are suffering economic hardship and feel they need to create a
better life for themselves [and] their
families, what about the rest of us
who were compliant and followed
the rules established to be able to
live here properly?
Frances Trant
Personnel Analyst
Health Services
Martinez, Calif.
I am an African-American female
who grew up in New York City
with immigrants. Immigrants of all
nationalities want the same thing:
good jobs, good housing and
schools for their children.
I am an ESL instructor of
Mexican immigrants and two of my
students have children living in
Mexico that they had to leave so
they could try to earn a decent living here. I support them and they
should be paid a livable wage.
Karen Washington
Columbus, Ohio
To Perm or Not to Perm?
The article “To Perm or Not to
Perm” (DiversityInc– March 2006) by
Yoji Cole was absolutely incredible
and desperately needed! I was so surprised to see this issue being discussed
professionally, realistically, and truthfully. Please keep up the good work!
Jessica Jeanty
Fredericksburg, Va.
A perm is not the only area that
corporate America and other controlling segments of society are
frowning on. Every time you name
your child Raheem, Jahiem,
Rashaad, Shaniqua, Tamika,
Lashanda, you are severely damaging their child’s [ability to get
decent employment, housing, etc.].
I was dating a woman that
worked for a very large company
and one of her duties was to screen
applicants by their names and race.
If their names were anything but
common names such as William,
Steve, Mary, Karen, the [resumes]
went right in the trash.
Anthony Howze
Denver, Colo.
CONTACT US…
We welcome your comments. Letters
must include your name, address
and, if applicable, company affiliation
and title. Send letters via e-mail to
editor@DiversityInc.com. We reserve
the right to edit all submissions.
