Re: Hit and run of multiple cyclists

On 3/8/2025 9:04 AM, AMuzi wrote:

On 3/7/2025 10:56 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

>
That wasn't the case when my parents and I arrived in the USA via
Ellis Island in about 1953.  This was the tail end of Senator Joe
McCarthy and the Red (Russian) Scare:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism>
the HUAC:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee>
and the associated cold war Communist witch hunts.  From my parents
point of view, and from that of most immigrants from Europe, the
committee was a copy of Hitler and Friends had done before WWII.  If
you were a socialist, communist, gypsy, anarchist, or even a pacifist,
you would be "denounced" by the committee or by some random person,
and deported to some place unpleasant.
<https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/denounce>
"to tell someone in authority about a person's illegal activities,
especially illegal political activities"
>
No trial was needed.  For the freshly minted immigrants to the USA,
this was a very real concern (or fear).  My parents and friends were
seriously worried.  I was also worried, but because I really didn't
understand what was happening, I just followed their example.  For a
time, we became very wary of neighbors, police, officials, anyone in
authority, etc.
>
My extended family did their best to try and "fit in" and become an
American.  We learned to juggle the knife and fork like Americans,
instead of just holding the fork in the left hand and the knife in the
right.  We spent quite a bit of effort learning to read and write
English and understand American slang.  At the time, I was a 5+ year
old and had no difficulty learning all the languages required to
communicate with the neighbors, relatives, schools, and of course, the
Americans.  However, in public, all the immigrants made it a point to
only speak English.  My original native languages were German and
Polish, which my insisted should only be spoken indoors at home or at
a relatives house.  Anywhere else, it was "speak English or say
nothing".
>
This is 2nd hand from various relatives.  None of the immigrants spoke
about "rights".  If they were Jewish, and lived in the wrong
countries, they literally had no rights.  Having rights in the USA
seemed so improbable to some immigrants that they literally did not
believe that it was possible.  I was told that one immigrant received
a summons for some minor legal matter.  My parents caught up with him
as he was busy disposing of his possessions and preparing to leave the
country.  He explained that it was better to leave than to get thrown
in an American concentration camp.
>
I can go on forever with such stories but I would prefer to do
whatever I did on Friday evening before I discovered computers.  I
think it's sufficient to say that being an immigrant can be a very
traumatic experience, full of bad information and misinterpretations.
It's no surprise that they do strange and difficult to explain things.
>
>

 I believe you but experiences vary a lot.
 All four of my grandparents immigrated at the beginning of the 1900s, lived in Italian neighborhoods and spoke little English. They were Resident Aliens, not citizens, all their lives. (in the 20th century, aliens had to register annually but there were few or no other impediments to their lives).
 In 1934, my eldest aunt on my mother's side wrote to the President, as my grandfather's work was cut to half time and he was very close to losing his house for nonpayment. She was a sixth grader and the only person in the family with adequate English. By whatever good luck, their mortgage was extended. My mother and all her siblings voted straight democrat all their lives.
 p.s. all my uncles in both families served in WWII. My father, the youngest, turned 18 as the war ended and did not.

My Polish grandparents arrived when your Italian ones arrived. They did become citizens, but they certainly suffered discrimination.

Back to the original link, the subject of the cyclist's efforts are illegal aliens, not actual immigrants.

There have been plenty of tales of legal immigrants and even U.S. citizens suffering arrest and imprisonment because they didn't look "American" enough - IOW white enough.
--
- Frank Krygowski