Stop the Refugee Invasion

A new commentary every Wednesday — November 18, 2015

STOPPING THE REFUGEE INVASION of AMERICA

It was 1620. A group of Native Americans of the vast Wampanoag confederation of tribes near Nantucket Island saw the great sails on the approaching ship and knew they were once again going to be invaded by the "White Eyes," with whom they were well acquainted. For nearly 200 years, visitations from these seaborne foreign invaders had brought slavery, disease, death and destruction. These foreigners carried fire sticks that killed from a distance and made the Native Americans' best bowmen ineffective. Worse, many of them often carried an invisible death aura on their exhalations that caused fevers, boils and lung congestion; that rendered members of the tribes, carriers of the death aura, also. They were defenseless against smallpox. Diseases such as whooping cough killed nearly every child.

For centuries, other "White Eyes," had burned people at the stake or beheaded them for disagreeing with corrupted tenants of a religion that they often espoused. They brought with them a terrible reputation; far worse than any of those fleeing...or even members of the present so-called Islamic State.

Suffering was not unknown to the Wampanoag, for they warred constantly with tribes about them, particularly the powerful Haudenosaunee (called Iroquois) recognized throughout eastern "America," by other tribes much as Iran is today. So, it came to pass that the Wampanoag looked with pity upon the survivors of the Mayflower—these dissident Separatists from the Church of England—who had borne a great deal of hardship since they vowed to remove themselves from what they perceived was a church so corrupt it was beyond repair.

It had been a terrible voyage. It was begun with a sister ship, the wrongly named "Speedwell" on September 6th. The Speedwell soon developed a leak that was deemed not repairable. Most of the Pilgrims aboard the Speedwell were crammed onto the Mayflower. A few returned to England and safety aboard the Speedwell as it limped back to Plymouth harbor.

The Mayflower ran into inclement weather. The Atlantic quickly turned treacherous with high winds and mountainous seas. The captain saved the sails by trimming them, but the small vessel was left to drift wherever the storm took them. By the time the hurricane had passed, all were desperately seasick and without food and water. They were far off course of their intended landing in Virginia. They had been at sea for 66 days. It was November 9th of 1620 when they came ashore just north of Cape Cod, in what is now Massachusetts.

Massasoit, whom we would call "Chief," or "Mullah" of the Wampanoag, was conflicted by various factions' opinions on what to do with these troublemakers. One wise and benevolent among his advisors, named Tisquantum (whom the Pilgrims, as we "White Eyes" are wont to do, miss-named "Squanto"), advised mercy and succor. Had he done otherwise, the refugees probably would have been turned away—just as the chiefs of many of we white eyes are recommending today—including the Governor of the State where I reside.

At that particular time, the Wampanoag was a numerous and well-fed confederation of tribes who were prospering on a diet of numerous wild animals, among them, deer and a large game bird, we now call the "turkey," abundant sea food brought home by the hunters and fishermen—along with corn, beans and squash cultivated by the women.

Squanto taught the Pilgrims what they needed to know in order to survive and he was repaid by being kidnapped and being made a slave in England. But that is supposed to have taken place after a celebration at the end of the first harvest was planned and carried out, followed by much thanks giving.

So, was the first Thanksgiving we celebrate some fairy tale that never came true...for the Pilgrims, or the Irish during the Potato Blight, the people of Germanic descent during World War I, the displaced after World War II, the Vietnamese, the Cambodians and Hmong mountain people, along with the many Cubans now occupying Florida? What if the Wampanoag and the other native people of what is now the United States would have successfully barred refugees from coming here?

I certainly would not be telling this story, nor would all of you descendants of foreigners be reading it.

Dear Readers: This may be your last and only opportunity to tear down the Statue of Liberty and extinguish its beacon.

-Phil Richardson, Observer of the human condition and storyteller. "He goes doddering on into his old age, making a public nuisance of himself." - Joseph L. Menchen

Phil's current post can be read at: http://www.imrightagain.com

If you wish to comment, Phil can be reached at:

k7os (at) comcast (dot) net

"AgainRight"

THE PROSPERITY COAL COMPANY: My book about hard times and union wars in the coal fields, in times past.

$9.95, plus shipping For details on the novel, click: http://www.Amazon.com and enter "Prosperity Coal Company" in the search window.

Shop Amazon Fire TV - Say it. Watch it.

Our unending thanks to Jim Bromley, who programs our Archive of Prior Commentaries

Learn About the Savings with Prime from Amazon.com