Grandpa, we learned your lessons too good

My Italian-American home girl, Jen Miller, had a couple things to say.

When right-wing politicians and their followers launched a hate campaign against Haitian migrants living in Springfield, Ohio, the results were vile — but not unfamiliar.

The words deployed are not unlike rants used against Italian Americans who came to the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I know this because my great-grandparents were part of a previous immigrant class that changed the face of this country, and at the time were hated for it. 

….

I’m here because my great-grandfather did what most immigrants to the U.S. do: He was looking for a better life.

What’s funny about our Italian-American ancestors is that a lot of them were so ready to be racist. Some still are — Frank LaRose, I’m talking to you. But what they unwittingly taught is that it was not OK to hate people based on their skin color and immigrant heritage.

Grandpa, we learned your lessons too good.

Read more from Jen here.