Hey Trump: America's not so beautiful if you lock its front door!

Published December 8th, 2015 - 08:49 GMT

It turns out that Donald Trump - hotelier and presidential hopeful - really wants to be a doorman, so he can stop entry of all Muslims into the US. His are the sentiments of a madman who's pandering to fear and ignorance, not the voice of a nation. (FYI - two of three Trump wives are immigrants!)

But the US - a land made up of foreigners - does have a rep for marginalizing each new wave of ethnicity as it washes up on shores. Despite this, people still come, and excel, often becoming pinnacles of "American" achievement. So Muslims are in good company. Check out a dozen examples to see our point.

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Jack Kennedy was America’s first Irish Catholic president, serving until his assassination in 1963. He started the Peace Corps, pushed forward the space program, and abolished the death penalty in Washington, D.C. (The Irish in America were characterized as an inferior race compared to Anglo Saxon Protestants, often called "white Negroes." )

Barack Obama is the nation’s first part-African president. The family faith of his Kenyan father and Indonesian step-father was Islam, but he was raised as a Christian and practices that religion today. In a nation with a rich history of racism, Obama's ascension to presidency was as improbable as JFK's.

Fashion designer Vera Wang was born in NYC to Chinese nationals. (Trump's daughter was married in a Vera Wang wedding dress!) Sinophobia is not new to the US. In the late 1800s, laws were passed aimed at restricting Chinese immigration and barring them from naturalization on the grounds that they couldn't assimilate into US society.

Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer, NeXt and Pixar. His biological father was a political migrant from Homs, Syria, a place now devastated by civil war. Jobs' influence on world culture, business and technology is considered “American”, but it wouldn't have happened if not for a Syrian immigrant .

Obama said of 2-term US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that he prevented another Great Depression during the 2008 global money meltdown. Bernanke's grandparents were European Jews. (Anti-Semitism limited Jewish immigration during WW2. New law in 1948 was a turning point in US immigration, setting precedent for later refugee crises.)

What’s more American than baseball? Major League player Ted Williams - “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived” - played his whole career for the Boston Red Sox, later managing the team. He said of his Mexican ancestry, "If I had my mother's name, there’s no doubt I would’ve run into problems, considering the prejudices in California".

Rocky Marciano was American heavyweight boxing champ from 1952-56, never defeated. Historians rank him as one of the best of all time in his class. The “Iron Chin” was born to Italian Catholic immigrants. (Did you know that the largest mass lynching in US history occurred in 1891 in New Orleans, and the victims were Italian-Americans?)

Figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi won a 1992 Olympic gold medal for the US. She's a 4th generation Japanese American. (Anti-Japanese racism in the US was rampant in 19th and 20th century. The 1913 Alien Land Law barred them from owning land in California, and during WW2, over 100,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned for “national security”.)

Ballerina Maria Tall Chief began with the New York City Ballet in 1947, and later founded the Chicago City Ballet. Her father was from the Osage Nation. (Individual states granted US citizenship to Native Americans, with random and often racist practices. It was not until the Nationality Act of 1940 that everyone born on US soil were citizens.)

Combined DNA from four Polish immigrants spawned the First Lady of American Homemakers, Martha Stewart. As a child, she babysat for the kids of baseball legends Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. Baseball and Martha's apple pie recipe, go USA! (Poles were so reviled in the US, they earned their own line of jokes.)

CNN is a respected news source, and it’s most respected journalist is Christiane Amanpour. Raised in Tehran by her Iranian Muslim father, she left to attend secondary school in England. She moved to the US for university, and lives there still. "The Most Trusted Name in News" is fronted by...an immigrant.

Supermodel Gigi Hadid - who toggles between roles as Kardashian BFF, boy-band arm candy, and Victoria’s Secret Angel - was produced by a Palestinian dad who immigrated to the US when he was just a kid. A real estate developer – like Trump - he’s now worth over $100 million. Imagine the lost US tax revenue if he was never allowed in.

Jack Kennedy was America’s first Irish Catholic president, serving until his assassination in 1963. He started the Peace Corps, pushed forward the space program, and abolished the death penalty in Washington, D.C. (The Irish in America were characterized as an inferior race compared to Anglo Saxon Protestants, often called "white Negroes." )

Barack Obama is the nation’s first part-African president. The family faith of his Kenyan father and Indonesian step-father was Islam, but he was raised as a Christian and practices that religion today. In a nation with a rich history of racism, Obama's ascension to presidency was as improbable as JFK's.

Fashion designer Vera Wang was born in NYC to Chinese nationals. (Trump's daughter was married in a Vera Wang wedding dress!) Sinophobia is not new to the US. In the late 1800s, laws were passed aimed at restricting Chinese immigration and barring them from naturalization on the grounds that they couldn't assimilate into US society.

Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer, NeXt and Pixar. His biological father was a political migrant from Homs, Syria, a place now devastated by civil war. Jobs' influence on world culture, business and technology is considered “American”, but it wouldn't have happened if not for a Syrian immigrant .

Obama said of 2-term US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that he prevented another Great Depression during the 2008 global money meltdown. Bernanke's grandparents were European Jews. (Anti-Semitism limited Jewish immigration during WW2. New law in 1948 was a turning point in US immigration, setting precedent for later refugee crises.)

What’s more American than baseball? Major League player Ted Williams - “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived” - played his whole career for the Boston Red Sox, later managing the team. He said of his Mexican ancestry, "If I had my mother's name, there’s no doubt I would’ve run into problems, considering the prejudices in California".

Rocky Marciano was American heavyweight boxing champ from 1952-56, never defeated. Historians rank him as one of the best of all time in his class. The “Iron Chin” was born to Italian Catholic immigrants. (Did you know that the largest mass lynching in US history occurred in 1891 in New Orleans, and the victims were Italian-Americans?)

Figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi won a 1992 Olympic gold medal for the US. She's a 4th generation Japanese American. (Anti-Japanese racism in the US was rampant in 19th and 20th century. The 1913 Alien Land Law barred them from owning land in California, and during WW2, over 100,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned for “national security”.)

Ballerina Maria Tall Chief began with the New York City Ballet in 1947, and later founded the Chicago City Ballet. Her father was from the Osage Nation. (Individual states granted US citizenship to Native Americans, with random and often racist practices. It was not until the Nationality Act of 1940 that everyone born on US soil were citizens.)

Combined DNA from four Polish immigrants spawned the First Lady of American Homemakers, Martha Stewart. As a child, she babysat for the kids of baseball legends Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. Baseball and Martha's apple pie recipe, go USA! (Poles were so reviled in the US, they earned their own line of jokes.)

CNN is a respected news source, and it’s most respected journalist is Christiane Amanpour. Raised in Tehran by her Iranian Muslim father, she left to attend secondary school in England. She moved to the US for university, and lives there still. "The Most Trusted Name in News" is fronted by...an immigrant.

Supermodel Gigi Hadid - who toggles between roles as Kardashian BFF, boy-band arm candy, and Victoria’s Secret Angel - was produced by a Palestinian dad who immigrated to the US when he was just a kid. A real estate developer – like Trump - he’s now worth over $100 million. Imagine the lost US tax revenue if he was never allowed in.

Hey Trump: America's not so beautiful if you lock its front door!

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