| ON COMING TO AMERICA
declared, “food comes before art,” where “art” may be equated with any matter not directly connected with basic survival. An immigrant who is no longer threatened by hunger, homelessness and other dangers that plague the poor, will of course be grateful, but not necessarily satisfied. After establishing himself economically, he may next turn to those “other” matters and find something lacking. Such a person would be grateful, but probably not happy. To realize the basic loneliness of the average immigrant, one should imagine being placed as he is placed. There are no friends or relatives, no familiar set of customs, no community. Instead, there is constant anxiety, a concerted effort to conceal discomfort or irritation with alien customs, for fear that one may hear “America, love it or leave it.” The difficulties with the language are especially hard to overcome for the undereducated, and may become an ever-present difficulty. How many Americans understand the fear most immigrants have of misunderstanding important messages, or their concern about the inability to fully convey what it is they wish to communicate? Linguistic competence is a crucial adjunct to survival and immigrants are well aware that they may be evaluated based on the way they speak. Only Americans who travel abroad and try to employ a foreign language they have learned at home understand the frustration and humiliation that come from not being understood, or from not understanding what is being said. It can be devastating for those who, aware of their linguistic shortcomings, find it impossible to make a good impression. Learning proper English is beyond the ability of many with no educational background in the study of language or grammar. Whenever one must convey something more complex or sophisticated to a native speaker, panic sets in, since a mistranslation may cause serious problems in the work place, with police, or in medical emergencies. Worry and humiliation are the constant companions of immigrants who have dared to leave their ethnic home without having learned English and lack the skill or the time to acquire linguistic proficiency.
The Immigrant as Dissident
A special group of immigrants belong to the so-called émigrés, whose transplant to a foreign country has little to do with their own self betterment, but is undertaken for ideological reasons, in the hope of finding understanding and perhaps assistance in their pursuit of a vision.
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PROFILES IN DIVERSITY JOURNAL
German immigrant family in the United States, 1930
The Polish immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in the late 1940s and early 1950s fall into this category (and are the case in point). There have been and are many dissidents from different ethnic groups, who have objected to the ideas and policies of the authorities in their homeland. Most have shared with Poles a trust in the United States’ claim to freedom and opportunity, and in the American tendency to offer aid to political refugees. They hoped to find support for their respective causes. However, dissidents seldom find what they are looking for in the United States, unless the American government and power groups agree with them and their aims. For many, disappointment and frustration follow their arrival in the U.S. In the case of Poles, the futility of their efforts became apparent soon after the end of the second World War and the Treaty of Yalta, which was disastrous for Poland. Indeed, it is difficult to understand how mature men and women could be so naive as to believe that a treaty signed by three superpowers, the U.S., U.K. and Soviet Union, could be successfully challenged by the remnants of a once-valued ally whose country had been consigned to the gentle care of Stalin. But the desperate grasp at straws, and there should be sympathy for that kind of naïveté on the part of Poles and others. The naïve were on a desperate search for support from a powerful ally with a reputation for objectivity and compassion. “When, on my arrival in the U.S., I saw the Statue of Liberty,” reminisced my friend Janusz, “ I cried, and I was immensely grateful that my fate allowed me to come to such a country. I planned to make Poland’s tragedy known. But the longer I stayed, the less hopeful I became.” What did he find? A
November/December 2013