Silly immigration "expert"

History overlooked in favor of Leftist agenda

By Tom Kovach

This is in response to an article in the Tuesday, 17 October 2006, edition of the Nashville "City Paper" (the largest free newspaper in the area), "Leaders seek dialogue at immigration forum"

My top campaign issue — by popular demand, from conservatives and liberals — is securing our national borders, and clamping down on illegal aliens. There are far more millions of illegal aliens inside the United States than the news media is telling you.

The article in the City Paper cites an "immigration expert" from (of course) Vanderbilt University. Dr. Katharine Donato, a professor of sociology, said, "In a city like Nashville in a state like Tennessee, immigration didn't really exist largely until the 1990s." Oh, really?

Perhaps this "expert" has never eaten at Varallo's cafeteria, in the heart of downtown Nashville, where the 100-year history of the family-owned business is displayed on the walls. The Varallo family were early leaders in the immigrant community of Nashville. They were leaders not only for immigrants from Italy, but also for immigrants from other countries.

Perhaps this "expert" has never been to Centennial Park (walking distance from Vanderbilt University), and seen the exact-scale replica of The Parthenon. Our replica in Nashville is actually in better shape than the one in Athens, Greece — due partly to its relative youth (109 years), and partly to the Turkish detonation of ammunition stored there during an invasion of Greece. But, the very existence of The Parthenon replica — here in "The Athens of the South" — begs the question "why?." The answer is that, when Nashville celebrated its 100th anniversary, the huge Centennial Exposition wanted to celebrate the city's large and diverse **immigrant** population. A major segment of that immigrant population was (and remains) people from Greece. A short walk from Varallo's will take one into The Arcade (a magnificent feature of Nashville's historic architecture), and up to The Greek Touch luncheonette. There, people eat top-quality souvlaki, gyros, and spanikopita, all served up with grace and humor — in English or Greek.

Perhaps the "expert" has never attended the annual Greek Festival at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on Franklin Pike. If so, she seems to be in the minority, because it is attended by thousands. (It's one of the highlights of my year.) And, while on Franklin Pike, perhaps this "expert" has driven right past the Athens Family Restaurant — which is run by Chef Yanni (a real, "off the boat" Greek immigrant), and his lovely, American-born wife Dina. (My wife and I are "charter customers" — having eaten at Athens on the very first night that they opened, and on many occasions since then. Dina honored my request, and taught me how to complement the food in Greek.)

Perhaps the "expert" has never heard of the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute (TFLI), which is located in the heart of downtown Nashville — literally across the street from Capitol Hill. Perhaps the "expert" doesn't know that the TFLI is able to draw upon native speakers — immigrants, mostly — of over 100 languages. (I had signed up for a course in Ukrainian, because my skills in that language have become very rusty, but there were not enough students to start a course.) There is a growing community of Russians and Ukrainians in Nashville.

Perhaps the "expert" has not noticed the presence of a rather large Korean community in and around Nashville. I noticed the Hangul characters on restaurant signs the first week that I moved to Nashville (only five years ago, and I'm not even an "expert"). It turns out that, because of our proximity to Fort Campbell, this area became home to many soldiers (and their immigrant wives) that settled after returning from the Korean War. For the benefit of the "expert," that was 40 years before the 1990s. The Koreans are among the newer groups of immigrants in the Nashville area. I can still hold a decent conversation in Korean, 25 years after leaving my one-year tour in that country, and have surprised several business owners with that skill.

Perhaps the "expert" did not know that, also because of our proximity to Fort Campbell (and its 5th Special Forces Group), the Nashville area has visible comminities of people from Vietnam and Laos. You can see some of their shops as you go west on Charlotte Pike from the traffic light at White Bridge Road. For the benefit of the "expert," Saigon fell to the Communist invaders in April of 1975 (four months before I went to Basic Training), which was also awhile before the 1990s.

Perhaps the "expert" did not know that the "hillbillies" of East Tennessee were originally mostly Scottish immigrants. How did I know that? Because, years ago, I read an article by a music anthropologist (yes, they exist — I've even met one) that studied Tennessee's famous "mountain music," and found direct roots from ancient Scottish hymns. Much of the true, historic mountain music had Christian themes. The hillbillies had preserved their historic roots via music and storytelling. (ever been to Jonesboro?)

Perhaps this might surprise the "expert," but the large Black community in Nashville is (obviously, to us non-experts) from immigrant stock. Granted, their immigration was largely forced by the slave trade. But, since the days of Emancipation and Reconstruction, many Black people have immigrated to Nashville from other countries, including Haiti, Guyana, and several countries in Africa. (If you venture into some of the parts of Nashville that I've walked through during my Congressional campaign, a discerning ear can hear an occasional Guppa or Creole accent on the wafting breeze.) The most recent notable group are the Somalis. That refugee movement has actually been mostly, but not all, since the 1990s.

Then, of course, there are the Kurds. Nashville is home to the largest Kurdish population in the United States. That is why we were chosen to be one of only five American cities that participated in the Iraqi expatriate elections. Although the Kurds are a fairly recent immigrant group, Nashville has long been home to communities of immigrants from the Middle East. Those communities include people from Israel, Lebanon (not the city...), and Iran. (I surprised the owner of a Green Hills restaurant when I spotted his Persian accent and facial features, and spoke to him in Farsi.)

The political Left wants the voting public to believe that anyone who favors border security and immigation enforcement is a "racist" and a "xenophobe." Considering that I'm quite proud of the stories of my immigrant grandparents, and that I've used my God-given talent for languages, it's hard to pin that label on me. (Back during the Great Depression, my grandfather organized a relief program for earthquake victims back in "the old country." My grandmother, whose parents pulled her out of a convent and sent her to America after the Little Revolution, helped to organize and pick the site for a large church. Five of their children went off to World War Two; only three came back alive.) I have nothing against legal immigrants, nor against other cultures (as long as they don't preach our destruction). I hold quite the grudge against the illegal aliens that invade our country — and I believe that you should, too!

Ya' know, I'm glad that I'm not an "expert." Otherwise, I might not know all this stuff, nor be so patriotic. Silly me.

© Tom Kovach