My grandparents refused to speak Italian to their children because of the racial pressures they faced in the early 1900's. Because of that I never learned Italian and it often upset me as I grew up and appreciated what a gift it would have been to speak a second language. It's too bad that Congress couldn't have taken their time (Tancredo is Italian and this exchange about the English language is an embarrassment...see video.) and worked out a comprehensive plan, but the Republicans blocked it. Arthur links to an article by Peter Quinn that talks about the history of this country on immigration and its sins. History is something we sorely lack...

Considering that the United States is made up of "others" and those descended from "others," it is remarkable how much we hate the "other" targeted for vilification at any particular moment in history. We don't hate only those "others" who come here: we hate the "others" who remain there, wherever "there" might be...

At the conclusion of his article, Quinn wonders "whether we will learn from the past or repeat it." On this, as on every other issue of consequence, the evidence compels but one conclusion: we resolutely refuse to learn a single damned thing from the past -- especially since we are almost entirely ignorant of our own past, as well as everyone else's -- and we will repeat it an endless number of times, with all its grisly, bloody details fully intact..read on