Theresa Maggio

The 85-year-old mother of my friend Naomi wrote this letter to her congressman in support of immigrants seeking new homes, new lives.

US Congressman Sam Farr
Washington, D.C.


Dear Sam Farr,

I am writing today to make a case as best as I can to reverse the current American paralysis towards the Syrian, Eritrean, Afghanistani refugees as they walk, hide swim, are trunked in cars to escape the seemingly never ending middle Eastern wars.

I speak from experience: I was in the same situation 70 years ago: expelled by the Nazis, my parents tried desperately to get entry into European and American countries – to no avail. By fortuitous circumstances, Shanghai proved to be an open door (nobody had thought to close it) and about 20,000 Polish, German, Austrian, Czech Jews survived the war there .But 13 of my immediate family members who did not choose to escape were gassed, murdered or shot in Vienna and Czechoslovakia.

It is this stark today, perhaps worse. Today’s refugees have been in camps; they’ve been bombed;
they’ve been passed on from jihadist group to new jihadist groups.

In the 1930’s I wondered why nobody fought to let us in. Today , I am luckily on the other side
I am a bystander who looks on from afar.

I have seen the triumph of immigrants here . I wont allow the new Trumpifying of them . Right here ,in Carmel, the owner of a cleaning establishment is Korean, the owner of the bagel bakery is Cambodian, another cleaning establishment is owned by a Chinese; a girl behind the desk of my swim club is Salvadorian: we absorb immigrants. They contribute to diversification. They blend in.

So.I cant believe that America built by immigrants , stands idly by when the stream of refugees heading towards Europe is growing ;when there is no end of war in sight. In fact,
America, by not bombing Syrian chemical facilities (Obama’s red line ) has allowed the war to continue.

In the 1970’s at the end of the Vietnamese war we took in 140,000. We should do this again. We should take political leadership – together with the United Nations, together with the Pope – to take immediate action .There is a promise to take in 5 to 7,000 refugees next year according to the NYTimes
(9/6/2015). Not enough.

All it needs is political will and organization. We can fly over there and register thousands and airlift them or put them on boats ; start the process of rehabilitation – first in transit camps which should include language classes & health exams; followed by vocational training with plans to disburse the new arrivals throughout the country. We should encourage Saudi Arabia ,the Gulf States
to do same.We should start a refugee peace corps- give college credits to youngsters who are looking for a cause.

If we turn our backs on this situation, we will be creating more terrorists: and more
significantly, we are turning our backs on our own history.

Please distribute this letter as widely as you can………………

Sincerely,
Lotte Marcus
 Read More 

Again, because it is so beautiful, and maybe you missed it the first time.

On 12 September, the Tower of the Church of San Nicolo` in the heart of Albergheria in Old Palermo will be open until midnight for half-hour tours. The view is so beautiful. Palermo at night can't be beat.

I noticed that with one picture of a Syrian boy, a Caucasian by race, a boy showing white skin between his pants leg and his little shoe, washed up limp and lifeless on a beach, Europe and the world stood up and took notice. God bless that boy, his brother, his mother, his bereaved father, his whole family and his country. I am going to use his picture at the top of all my stories about the African people who also die trying to get to Europe.  Read More 

At 8 this morning Irish rescue ship L. E. Niamh arrived at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo carrying 329 immigrants rescued yesterday from a boat in difficulty in the Strait of Sicily. They were almost all men, with just 10 women this time. One was pregnant and was sent right away to a hospital for a check-up, according to La Repubblica. Read More 

80 Egyptian children and babies and 21 Egyptian adults arrived in Sicily today. The Coast Guard had never seen so many unaccompanied minors in one boat. They say most of the adults will be sent back to Egypt.
One Nigerian woman gave birth to a baby boy on the Coast Guard rescue ship that picked her  Read More 

838 refugees from Africa are headed toward the Sicilian city of Messina today. A rubber raft went down off the coast of Libya, one person drowned. The ship Cigala Fulgosi will arrive at the Sicilian port of Augusta with 394 immigrants rescued. 781 immigrants, including 11 pregnant women, and six cadavers will arrive at the Sardinian port of Cagliari, according to the Palermo edition of today's La Repubblica online newspaper. Read More 

I noticed that Caucasian immigrants to Europe get a lot of press, but he continuing massacre of drowning African immigrants trying to get to Europe doesn't get covered in the states. I am giving you te news I read every day on the front page of La Repubblica online.
The rickety boatloads of immigrants  Read More 

118 migrants were rescued from the rubber dinghy by the Doctors Without Borders ship Dignity at 38 nautical miles off the coast of Libya.

Plus, Italian authorities collected 200 bodies of immigrants = 40 dead of breathing diesel fumes while locked in the hold, 160 found drowned and floating a half mile from the Libyan coast after a shipwreck.

Shoes, kitchen utensils, coins, a compass, a package of couscous, a life jacket, a Bible and a Koran. These are some of the objects immigrants brought to confront their voyage in the Mediterranean and left on the vessels that brought them, in years past, to the coast of Lampedusa. Memories and symbols of today's  Read More