The Contemporary Connection 10/20/11

There have been events in American history that play large roles in defining our nation. Most often, the reason these events define us is because of how people decided to progress afterward. The Civil War is one of those events. It changed so many lives and people in our country, and it cut our nation in half. Another one of these events was 9/11. On page 2 of the introduction, it says, "the gulf between life before and after the war continued to expand during the following decades." Life changed for people after the Civil War, and all of our lives changed after 9/11. I was not directly affected by this event, but I do remember that it was the last time I truly felt safe.
In our country today, there is a deepening split between Middle Eastern Americans and all other Americans. It's out of fear that people have begun to discriminate against Middle Eastern Americans, and it's because no one wants to see such a devastating event take place again. It must be a lot like the aftermath of the Civil War. No one knew quite what was going to happen, so they tried to go through their lives walking on eggshells so as not to cause such a great war again.
As they began healing from the Civil War, they ran into some issues that still exist in our nation today; immigration is still a problem in our country. America has been called a beacon of hope to the refugees of other nations, but even in over 100 years, the system is still majorly flawed. Is it really such a beacon of hope and promise if the people who come here have no promise of being able to stay? Americans in the 1880's struggled with an influx in immigrants, especially those from China. Many of the Chinese who immigrated worked on the transcontinental railroad, taking the physical labor jobs that other Americans didn't want. In our country today, this still happens. It's not Chinese men building the railroad, butsometimes it is stereotypically Mexican men and women doing yard work and cleaning houses. There is still a stereotype of the people who immigrate to our country, and they come here to try to achieve their dreams which become part of the American Dream. Wouldn't that make these people American through their ideals?