Immigration and parallel communities

 

“Colonizers should never experience homogeneity.” Dr. BLR

 

One of the things everyone should do is travel beyond the world they’ve been accustomed to. Growing up, I never expected to venture beyond North Carolina, where my mom’s family lived. Fortunately, I had a job that afforded me the means to travel. One of the first places I visited was the Bahamas. It was a wonderful experience, and I highly recommend it. I bring it up because it was where I met an extended family member from Germany. I would call her my best friend, but she is more than that, so I will leave it there. After the vacation ended, I invited her and her friend to visit me if they ever found themselves in New Jersey. Little did I know that within a couple of weeks, she’d be knocking on my door. I can’t make this shit up. What I thought would be a week or so turned into several weeks, but it all worked out. In the end, she invited me to visit her home in Hagen, Germany, and, curious, I accepted. 

Traveling to Germany would be my first international flight, where you travel ahead in time, not in some mythical sense; it’s just that they are five or six hours ahead for whatever reason. Please don’t make me lie about something I could never explain. 

I took a taxi to Newark Airport and would be flying on Lufthansa, a German airline. I traveled alone, with only one expectation upon landing. I wanted to see some tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed people I had heard so much about. I didn’t think that was much to ask for my first trip. 

As I boarded the plane, several flight attendants greeted me, all fitting the profile. I then walked slowly to my assigned seat. What stood out was the lack of people who looked like me. It was a large plane with many seats, but I appeared to be the raisin in the rice bowl. Oh well. 

It was a 7-hour flight, so I got comfortable and waited for the first round of drinks, hoping to get blasted and pass out. I slept for about three hours. When I awoke, food was being served, and I was hungry. I was in an aisle seat and didn’t need to move much when the flight attendant handed me my meal. I ate, then sat back and watched a few movies until it was time to land. 

The captain's instructions sounded awkward, not calm, as he told everyone to take their seats. His voice panicked as he told everyone to put on their seatbelts and brace for an emergency landing. Flight attendants then showed us how to place our heads between our legs. I wanted to be afraid, but I had two assholes sitting on opposite sides of the aisle, smiling and giving each other the hang-loose hand signal. I wanted to punch the shit out of both of them. 

The plane didn’t have to make an emergency landing because the stuck landing gear eventually came down, and we landed safely. We disembarked without incident, but I was a bit shaken. As I walked down the stairs to the waiting area, I immediately saw my friend, standing with a companion, holding a bottle and a fistful of balloons. I walked quickly to hug them and, strong-arming the bottle, I knew it was some alcohol. I opened the bottle and took it to the head. It felt good going down. I briefly explained my behavior, and they suggested I take another swig. I did.

I eventually retrieved my luggage and drove to her home. Her husband was there, awaiting my arrival. I had met him several months earlier when he came to visit while his wife and a friend were staying with me.  

We had a brief meal and a few hours of conversation before I hit the sack; jet lag had caught up with me, and I was exhausted. I looked forward to the next day, when I would meet a few of their friends in the town center.

The next morning, we traveled to the center of Hagen, where all the expensive stores were, even though I didn't have that kind of money. One of their good friends owned one of the businesses, so I was going to patronize his business if I could afford it. Before walking into the store, I looked down the street and saw what appeared to be non-German people. It was my first time there, so I was taken aback. Where the hell did they come from? I thought. I didn’t mention it at that moment, but I definitely had questions. I also saw American stores, including a McDonald’s. I didn’t need to see that. I wanted ALL German shit. I could’ve stayed home if I had known. 

We eventually returned to their apartment, and that’s when I bombarded them with questions. First, who the fuck were those people, and why were they living in Germany? That’s when I got a history lesson. Those people were Turkish, or the Turks, who came to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s when Germany needed cheap labor. Sound familiar? Fortunately, they had become part of society and were accepted by the German people, even if they weren’t fully integrated. However, I was torn. They weren’t German, so I felt robbed of an authentic German experience, but in 1992, things had changed significantly. 

Fast forward, and the world we live in has changed. Issues surrounding immigration have caused division, not only in the United States but also in Germany and several European countries. But why? I think it is because of two issues. The dominant country’s failure to take responsibility for its prior colonization, and immigrants, or whatever you want to call them, not fully integrating into the societies of the countries they now reside in. I recently spoke with my family member from Germany. We often reminisce about our past and growing old. I asked her what Germans thought about what I’ve been seeing in Germany and its immigration issues. Unsurprisingly, they are not in support of the immigrants and are fighting tooth and nail to get rid of them. The main reason is that immigrants often do not fully integrate and maintain parallel societies. I’m not surprised by this observation; the same thing happens in the U.S. Although this is a country built on the backs of the enslaved and multiple immigrant groups, no matter what state you go to, if there is a significant immigrant population, they are segregated into their little fiefdoms. However, this isn’t the case in other countries, particularly in Europe. Coupled with far-right political leaders around the world, I don’t see this immigration issue changing.