Frequently I feel compelled to respond to Anna Quindlen, in praise not only of her outstanding and exquisite linguistic skills, but in the perceptive messages she effectively conveys.
Her Jan. 7 column, ”America`s mosaic is a perpetual work in progress,”
was a veritable gem. She reminds those who would endorse the exclusionary philosophy of David Duke and Patrick Buchanan that we are a nation of immigrants. Indian tribes constitute the only authentic Americans.
Curiously, people who themselves are the descendants of foreigners, secure in their privileged positions, are often governed by select and restrictive guidelines. Acquiring attitudes of exclusivity, they resist the admission of outsiders to their realm. Such elitist posturing castigates ethnics from certain lands as social and economic inferiors.
With discerning grace, Quindlen cautions us to remember where we came from, which, in the history of Americans, ”is almost always somewhere else.”
