Question of the Week #4

Seeing as we all go to Herndon High, illegal immigration seems like a good topic to choose for the biggest political issue currently facing Virginia.  A lot of kids at Herndon High, as many of you have probably noticed, are extremely bigoted against Hispanics.  They accuse them of coming here to take our jobs, and derisively refer to all Hispanics as Mexicans.  I would like to say that I think it's pretty sick.  The majority of Hispanic immigrants, legal or illegal, are honest hardworking people who want better lives for their families, and greater opportunities for their children.  Those are the same things that everyone wants.  Regarding legality, I can't say I really give a damn whether they're here legally or not.  They're here, so we may as well welcome them with open arms and work on assimilating them into our culture.  My Irish great-grandparents who came to the United States around the turn of the century were not particularly well liked at the time.  But, they learned the language, and gradually became a part of the American culture.  Within a generation, their daughter, my grandma, was as American as anyone of her generation.  You never would have guessed that she was part of the first generation of her family born in the United States.  The Hispanic immigrants here now will go through this same assimilation process, and within a generation, they will all be accepted into our culture.  Until then, how about we try to make it a little easier on em, huh?  Being an immigrant in a new country, with a different language and culture isn't easy.  Being nice to them wouldn't kill any of us.