When My Grandparents Came to America

-- I heard a conservative talk radio dj today say that when people come to America they should come to be "Americanized," to "assimilate," and that we should go back to calling it the "melting pot." Here's my response."

"When My Grandparents Came to America"

When my grandparents came to America
They didn't come here to abandon their culture
Their religion, their pasts
The make-up of who they were

They came here with that culture
To enrich a country
Built on other country's histories

They came to add to it
Not to "assimilate" into it

When my grandparents came to America
They didn't learn the language
First thing off the boat

Now all these years later
I don't speak any language other than American

(Which, just so we're clear, is NOT English)

So apparently
Their delayed communicative education
Didn't cause that much damage after all

I wish they'd hung onto their language tighter
So I could be a little more worldly
Or at least have one extra skill on my resume

But hey, it is what it is

When my grandparents came to America
They were told that this was a place
Where every religion was not just accepted
But that the acceptance of every religion
Was celebrated

They didn't hear that if you read the Koran
You're an instant terrorist
Even though day after day
Timothy McVeighs exist all over the place
And altar boys getting treated like sex toys
Doesn't make Rush insist we toss the Catholics out

They didn't know that their grandson was going to wind up gay
And due to that, it's okay to hate him
But not intelligently debate him
Without dragging out a Bible
And an age-old hatred

When my grandparents came to America
They never thought that one day
They'd hear people saying
We should shut the gates
And cut off what made us
So great to begin with

That we should "send people back"
Or blow their home countries sky high
Why, when did we suddenly earn
Such a prestigious pedigree?

I thought we were a mutt country
But I guess I might be wrong

Good thing nobody shut that door
Before my grandparents got in

Or you'd be down one less
Pretty damn fine American