In the Serengeti last month we watched the migration of
wildebeests and zebras, hudreds of thousands of them streaming by. At the Mara crossings the crocs and vultures
waited. 
Once out of the bush, in Arusha and then in Cape Town, we could plug into the world once again -- and we watched our species in migration,
perhaps a million seekers, with human vultures preying on them. No, I am not equating these victimized people with beasts. The one is an ingrained part of the process of natural selection; the other, the result of unnatural savagery that man inflicts on man.I don't know what zebra and wildebeest dads feel when they watch the carnage in the water,
Europe is beset
--under siege from migrants and asylum seekers, torn between
morality and social cost, anguished by doubt about what Europe stands for. The short term view
of this is catastrophe: unaffordable food, housing and healthcare burdens and
social disruption. Hungary wants no part
of it -- just shunt them on to western Europe. Oh, they might take a few -- but only
Christians, please. Poland and Serbia
stand aside. Citizens respond with
charity; Pope Francis calls upon his flock to adopt families; but governments
waffle, seeing only short term crisis.
But in crisis there is opportunity. Perhaps Angela Merkel has the long view. Western Europe needs this infusion of strong,
courageous people determined to make a better life for themselves -- and in
doing so, for the communities in which they settle. Throughout Europe, birth rates have fallen to
below replacement level, meaning stagnation, an aging population to be cared
for by a steadily dwindling worker base.
Merkel understands the opportunity to juice up her economy. Germany, with a population of 82mm, pledges
to take 800,000 refugees this year, 1% of their population, and again next year. (60mm Britain agrees to 20,000, over five
years. Come on....) This isn't the first migration. Perhaps
Merkel has taken a lesson from our history.
In the first decade of the 20thC, a United States of 76mm
took in 8.7 millions! 40% of New York city were immigrant families. They were costly and disruptive. Jane Addams' Settlement House movement forced
into America's consciousness the living conditions, health service and
education needs of these other-worldies who aspired to become us. Teddy Roosevelt as NYC DA and NY Governor
rooted out the political patronage and corruption that ensnared them. Sinclair Lewis and Lincoln Steffens and the McClure
team exposed the dreadful exploitation of their labor. America reformed -- and these new Americans provided the brains
and muscle, and with old Americans' capital, together they created an
industrial powerhouse.
My grandfather, Hallie Waller, pioneered the Americanization of these new
comers, first in the Cambridge, Mass YMCA and later in Akron, Ohio. Ohio was then to the US what Germany is to
Europe -- its manufacturing export engine.
When WWI shut the door to Europe, the second Great Migration began, of
southern blacks fleeing Jim Crow and seeking northern jobs and
opportunity. Sure, there was a backlash;
Ohio had the largest Klu Klux Klan membership in the country in 1921. My Dad remembered being a ten year old
watching a cross burned on the front yard; the Klan forced Granddad out of his YMCA
General Secretary post and his
Presidency of the Akron School Board.
But the migrants struggled, thrived and made the community better. By 1925, the Klan was fading from northern
Ohio.
A few years later, a third great migration: 2.5 millions out of the Dust Bowl -- Grapes of Wrath, hardship and conflict -- to create a new California. And in the '60s, a fourth: 1.2 million Cubans were welcomed to these shores.
A few years later, a third great migration: 2.5 millions out of the Dust Bowl -- Grapes of Wrath, hardship and conflict -- to create a new California. And in the '60s, a fourth: 1.2 million Cubans were welcomed to these shores.
Inviting the Stranger to contribute is fairly easy;
assimilating with the stranger to create a new society is very hard. But the payoff is huge, in creativity,
energy, vitality. It's time we 320mm
US took a strong stand to accept a large share of this latest migration (not to
mention the thousands of Iraqis who served us in that disaster and deserve
sanctuary here.) Trumpism be damned.
The world must learn to deal with migrations for this won't
be the last and certainly not the largest.
Zebras and wildebeests migrate in response to water. If the global warming forecasts are only half
realized, water issues will be driving huge human migrations, both within and across
borders. Water shortages in China will
drive internal migration of tens of millions.
A surfeit of water in the ocean will drive millions migrating within the US
as coastal areas from Houston around the Gulf, around Florida, and up the east
coast up to Long Island become unlivable.
Elsewhere, tens of millions of Bangladeshis and Indonesians
will be migrating to higher ground.
Conflicts in developed economies as well as in the third world will
flare up over water, arable land, disrupted food supplies, and disaster relief after
storms or forest fires. None will be
exempt; all six continents will be enmeshed in migration (and in Antarctica, even
the penguins are migrating these days.) These human migrations may not be as concentrated in time as the current crisis in
Europe, but even spread out over longer
periods, they will be disruptive -- and will present opportunities.
We are entering an era of continuous migration. We -- all of us -- had better resolve and prepare to
handle these migrations with empathy and kindness, with a willingness to accept
the short term costs, and with a long view of renewal, of energizing, and of
opportunity. Mankind need not be
bestial; the stranger must be invited in.
Fletch, you're a caring and sensitive person and must see how our president is simply looking the other way with respect to the tons of refugees, a million of whom from Syria along who cannot see we care. Those who believed younger Iranian folks would love to be friendlier with the US have little reason to see real friendship and know well we have done not a thing to help those being slaughtered in Syria, Iran'smajor client. I want to be at the session on the 22d and have to catch an early ferry for Yom Kippur services that night. I am frankly stunned by our lack of help that is really being taken care of by of all people Germany and a small group despite Hungary's lack of interest.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I must admit I have very little time these days to pay too much attention to what is happening in Europe. However, I had never considered that the migration of hundreds of thousands of desperate souls could be anything but a catastrophe. Perhaps you are right - perhaps Merkel has intuited that these migrants may carry the seeds of innovation for the next generation of Europeans. Has she said as much?
ReplyDeleteIt's a hopeful thought.
I suppose when I consider hordes of weary migrants I think of the scourge of homelessness here in L.A. Here there is nothing but drug addiction, filth and despair amongst this growing underclass of Angelenos. Perhaps the two situations - the desperate of the Middle East and the desperate of Southern California - cannot be equated. One group wants a better life - another seems incapable of managing even the most basics of human existence in a land of plenty: food, shelter, work.
In the early 21st century the human animal seems capable of doing little but causing harm to others, ourselves, and the world around us. We dream of the stars but are still stuck in the dirt.
You're so right brother about Merkel's long view and the need of new workers to support the robust German economy in the face of fallen birth rates and an aging population (like ours and Japan's where restrictive immigration policies and dropping birth rates have created a crisis). Anyway, thanks for sharing your perspective and long view of the future dislocations of climate change origins. Our move to higher ground reflects that too.
ReplyDeleteThis from Bob A via e-mail: Fletch,
ReplyDeleteI deeply appreciate your adaptive use of the phrase "Inviting the Stranger" in your latest Rumination. I concur that we need to learn from history, at least the outcome of mass migrations to our shores over the centuries, and wake up to not only the humanitarian case but the economic one.
Thanks for spouting off on this critical topic. The Republican "debate" last night was another reminder of how far off a large segment of our populace is from understanding this dilemma and grasping the need to "invite these strangers".. The seekers for quick fixes, simple solutions and supposed hardball policy choices will be grievously disappointed in the end if we let this ridiculous thinking dominate the public discourse.
Bob