We Are A Nation Of Immigrants

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

We are all immigrants.

We all came here from some other land – perhaps for some of us, it happened in another time.

For me, it was my grandparents who came here – I don’t really know the full story, but like so many other eastern Europeans around the turn of the century before last, a home in America offered freedoms and opportunities, not available to them in the land that they left.

They traveled across a treacherous ocean, faced perils and difficulties so that their lives and the lives of their children would be better. I am one of the fortunate ones – someone else had the struggle and I reap the benefits.

It is the story of building our nation.

It is the story of Queens.

Only the time has changed. Perhaps the hues of the faces, the sounds of their words, and some customs are unlike those of the past, but there are no real differences.

People, in search of a better life leave their homeland and make their way to a new one. They bring with them the desire to be free, the commitment to provide their children with a new home, education and opportunity. They also bring a bit of their culture – their foods, their religion, and the charm of their unique and different land.

Those who came here on the Mayflower, those who later spent months at sea crossing to the new land and ultimately formed our republic came here for the same reasons as tens of thousands who arrive at Queens airports ever year.

They come with their dream, their determination and hard work. They are for the most part builders – builders of our tomorrow. They, in the universal time continuum, have built, are building and will continue to build this, the greatest nation the world has known.

With all of our faults and all of my regular criticism, there is no place on earth, nor has there ever been, with the freedoms and opportunity afforded by our country. And so they came, are coming, and will continue to come to build America and make our land their home.

Yes, this is a land of immigrants.

A LAND OF IMMIGRANTS
Queens is at the center of that immigrant world and has been there since the first Europeans explored the Long Island Sound in 1614. The Dutch vessel “The Restless” first sailed through the Astoria shore as it came to the Helle-Gat (narrow passage) and then later, up the river through the sound and the bay by the meadows (now Flushing), which they purchased from the Indians for an axe for every 50 acres.

In 1645, a group of Englishmen settled in Flushing, having come by way of Vlissingen. In 1657 the Quakers arrived in Flushing and shortly thereafter Governor Peter Stuyvesant banned all forms of worship except Dutch Reformed. This was done despite the charter issued by the Dutch government which assured freedom of religious worship.

On Dec. 27, 1657, Edward Hart, town clerk of Flushing, drew up the Flushing Remonstrance. The remarkable document declared that all who “…come in love unto us, we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them, but give them free aggress and regress unto our Towne and houses…”

And so, a struggle for freedom of religious worship in the Colony of New Netherlands began. In 1661, an Englishman – John Bowne – moved to Flushing from Boston and built a home, which he opened to those Quakers who wished to practice their faith without fear of imprisonment. Bowne was arrested that year for his actions and was imprisoned and sent out of the country “to wherever the ship shall land.” Bowne ultimately pleaded his case before the Dutch West India Company in 1664 and the authorities restored freedom of religious worship. Bowne returned to Flushing, and in 1672, George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, visited Bowne and preached, “unmolested by any magistrate.” In 1694, John Bowne was buried in the back of the Quaker Meeting House which was erected along what is now Northern Boulevard. It stands today, the oldest house of worship in the City of New York, and a living monument to the battle in which brave citizens risked their lives for the concept of religious freedom – the same freedom which 200 years later attracted my ancestors to our shores.

QUEENS WORLD’S FAIRS
For centuries, Queens shined brightly as a beacon for all who sought a place of freedom. And in 1939 at the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, that beacon actually transmitted an image which was technology’s boldest heralding of a shrinking world.

On April 30, 1939, television made its formal debut at the Queens World’s Fair with the first broadcast of a Presidential address by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The signal was sent to the Empire State transmitter and rebroadcast. The dawning of a new age went out from Queens and continues to reverberate throughout the world.

The building we know today as The Queens Museum is the only surviving structure of that great Fair. It was built as the New York City Pavilion but had a more significant role in making our borough the center of the world. From 1946 to 1951, it housed the General Assembly of United Nations. The partition of Palestine and Korea were just two of the significant actions taken in that building in our borough, which helped shape the world.
Another World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows in 1964 with the theme “Peace Through Understanding,” was dedicated to “Man’s Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe.” The theme center, a 12-story high, stainless-steel model of the earth called the Unisphere, serves today as the unofficial symbol of our borough and a modern day Statue of Liberty symbolizing from the air, to newly arriving immigrants at Queens airports, the freedom and opportunity of America.

Borough Hall tells us that today, immigrants from 106 different nations now call Queens their home.
More than half of our borough’s 2.2 million residents were born in foreign lands.

THE NEW ELLIS ISLAND
Queens has replaced Ellis Island as the gateway to America.

I remember my first and only trip to Ellis Island; it was in May of 2003.

My daughter Allison, wife Lil and her mom, Phyllis, accompanied me to the 2003 Ellis Island Medal of Honor Ceremony.

It sounded pretty heavy duty, but at first I was not overwhelmed about the honor nor taken with the pomp and circumstance that seemed to surround this prestigious medal. I was grateful to be one of the group of a little more than 100 selected out of the 10,000 nominees for the medal.

But the evening, the medal and the very moving ceremony was not at all about me — I’m not even sure why I was one of the impressive group of honorees from across the country. It was, in fact, a story about our borough.
The Ellis Island Medal of Honor – like the Island and Museum – is a tribute to immigration in our country — the spirit embodied most dynamically in Queens, New York.
“Today we honor a distinguished group of Americans. Each of them represent the very essence of the American way of life, having greatly contributed to our national identity while preserving the distinct values and heritage of their ancestors,” the program opened.

“The Ellis Island Medals of Honor have been aptly named, for the Island is a symbol of the diversity of our nation’s people — a people whose genius, culture, artistry and thought have joined to form a single mosaic of many cultures and ancestral backgrounds. It is from this diversity that the United States is still a beacon of hope for so many, and the greatest democracy the world has ever known,”

As the recipients marched into the tent and towards the stage, I saw Allison, Lil and Phyllis who was already in tears — Holocaust survivors are understandably, more easily moved by the Ellis Island experience.
Watching the color guard — the most formal presentation of the flag I’ve ever seen – sitting on the stage as my fellow medalists were called to the podium; receiving my medal; hearing the speeches; the entertainment highlighted by the 89th Airborne’s Glee Club, and the evening’s message made this not normally patriotic person proud to be an American.

But it made me prouder to tell my fellow medalists that I publish the largest paper in Queens County, the most ethnically diverse place on earth. We were celebrating Queens.

Share the pride.

Welcome to America.

Welcome to Queens.
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Michael Schenkler can be reached at:
MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

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