Musings of an immigrant's son on July 4th 2025

Musings of an immigrant’s son on 4th of July 2025

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

My father Fredrick Kerr - Rutgers Oral History Project  April 21, 1999:

My parents brought me to this country when I was about eight years old in the steerage [bottom] of a boat.  They didn't have much money, and we settled with relatives for the time being. When I had gotten through high school, I worked at a cousin's business for a while, just to make money

We are “ a nation of immigrants”… that’s what I was taught in school and what I believe in my heart. But last week, I read of the immigrant father of three active duty United States Marines being arrested at his job of 20+ years. 

Of late, America seems to have declared war on our very lifeblood - the dishwashers, the farm workers, the daycare providers and so many more immigrants who comprise the glue that holds struggling young and so many other families together  - as if they were our enemies.

How powerful it can be when we realize that the targets of ICE might easily have been our own grandmothers, aunts or  in my case - fathers in 1937  or in 2001 or even1766.

We are “a nation of laws” yet Omaha area meat processing companies saw what one company owner described as their “family” - long time employees - being arrested with no warrant and quickly deported with no due process.

The American way??? Has the definition of that phrase changed in 2025?

As a patriotic American and son of an honored veteran, what I will remember about 4th of July 2025 is the dark shadow of lawless cruelty cast upon our beautiful stars & stripes.