2007-2008 Program Assistants Arrive at FCNL's Green Building

A new class of Program Assistants has arrived at 245 Second St NE. We represent a range of ages and backgrounds, as well as diverse regions of the world. We come from France, Oregon, California, Iowa, Missouri, Texas, Rhode Island and New Jersey, and all of us are new to DC.

A picture of FCNL’s program assistants, including three 2nd year PAs:

Clockwise from the top: Danny Hosein, Dan Allen, Nick Bauer, Claire Valentin, Caroline Anderson, Chris Bracken, Maureen Brookes, Joelle Maruniak, Kate Gould, Trevor Keck, Devin Helfrich and Sharon Franklet.

From reading this blog I assume that you are all familiar with Maureen, Devin and Chris, but here’s a bit about the rest of us (in our own words, full biographies available on FCNL’s website):

Danny Hosein joined FCNL in the summer of 2007 as the organization’s first Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow. He discovered his love of politics and activism in San Antonio, where he helped coordinate a relief drive after the South Asian tsunami and a movement encouraging divestment from Sudan on campus. In his free time, Danny enjoys watching sports, reading, volunteering and meteorology.

Born in Waterloo, IA, Dan Allen spent his entire childhood in the great state of Iowa. His interest in politics was spurred by his participation in high school debate and he subsequently volunteered for local congressional and presidential campaigns. In his free time, Dan enjoys consuming (and playing) many sports, traveling, and working on his Spanish.

Nick Bauer comes to FCNL from Rhode Island, where he graduated from Brown University in May of 2007. A “Convinced Friend,” Nick began attending Meetings for Worship with his family in 1997 and is currently a member of Westport Monthly Meeting in Massachusetts. In his free time, Nick enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee, reading anything he can get his hands on, biking, hiking, sporting argyle socks, and culinary experimentation.

Claire Valentin is originally from Lyon, France and she loves to travel. After graduating from Brown University she traveled across Romania by car with her father- a Romanian native. Most recently, she has visited St. Petersburg and Moscow with her parents, her brother and her little sister. Until the next trip, Claire is exploring the charming streets of D.C. and enjoying the enchanting world of Capitol Hill.

Caroline Anderson came to FCNL in July 2007, after graduating from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in History. She is excited to explore DC, and in her free time enjoys reading in the park, watching movies, and hunting for good restaurants. She has also recently discovered a passion for strategic grocery shopping.

Prior to coming to FCNL, Joelle Maruniak served as a full-time AmeriCorps volunteer in rural Colorado where she split her time working in a homeless shelter and a homelessness prevention program. When she is not working, Joelle enjoys playing the flute and piano, reading, running, and practicing her Spanish.

Kate Gould is greatly inspired by Quaker principles, which she learned from her many years as a camper and counselor in the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Camping Program. Kate also loves wilderness adventures, practicing her Swahili, and exploring the vast networks of cultural diversity in Washington D.C.

Trevor Keck comes to FCNL from San Diego, California. He has traveled in Europe and Morocco, and is proficient in French. During his free time, he enjoys reading, watching films, playing ultimate frisbee, speaking French, traveling, and lounging in quirky coffee shops.

Sharon Franklet came to FCNL's Native American advocacy program in September 2007 from central California, where she worked as a botanist at Pinnacles National Monument. Now in DC, she likes its friendliness, arts, and greenery --yes, the plants!-- as well as the time zone ease of making evening calls to the West Coast.

We’re still settling into our new jobs and homes, but have already delved into the world of Capitol Hill. On Friday we finished three weeks of training, and are full of fresh ideas about how FCNL approaches its work and how to help the organization achieve its goals. Look to this blog as a chronicle of the next 12 months, as we learn more about FCNL, DC, and how to change policy. Hopefully we will offer a new perspective on Washington insider politics. We can’t wait to share our thoughts with you!

I am an Immigrant.

About Me: I’m the new Legislative Program Assistant at FCNL, working on issues related to the budget, immigration, civil liberties and poverty. Also, I happen to be an immigrant- a first generation immigrant.

Most people I meet would never guess. They are usually surprised when they learn this fact about me. After all, I’m white, I speak English, I have a college degree, I wear JCrew, and I love a good hamburger. What they don’t know is that I also speak French, I eat saucisson, I read Le Monde, and most of my family celebrates Christmas six hours before me.

In 2006, the U.S. welcomed 1,266,264 immigrants from around the world, almost as many as in 1907, when the U.S. welcomed 1,285,349 immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security can tell you exactly the number of permanent residents welcomed each year since 1820, and this number has risen and fallen repeatedly throughout the times.

My family could have floated across the Atlantic with the Mayflower. We could have arrived to help fight the Revolutionary War or as immigrants seeking refuge after Europe was decimated during WWII. Instead, we arrived from France in 1992 along with 973,445 other immigrants from around the world that year. My brother was 13, I was 10, and my little sister was three. Both my parents arrived as medical doctors, much like the 21,911 immigrants in 2006 who arrived as professionals with advanced degrees. Today, almost 15 years later, my brother works for a large urban development company in Boston, I have just begun my work here at FCNL, and my little sister starts as a freshman at Wesleyan. No doubt that the 973,445 other immigrants from 1992 followed equally diverse paths.

And the diversity of the immigrant population cannot be over-stated. Consider:

In 2006, U.S. citizens adopted 20,705 immigrant orphans from around the world, welcoming these children into their homes.

In the same year, the U.S. offered asylum to 6, 003 refugees from Russia, 3039 from Vietnam, and 2792 refugees from Iran (among refugees from many other countries).

Today, 35, 000 non-citizens serve in the armed forces, while 100 non-citizens have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to Census 2000, 62 % of all foreign born in the U.S. have at least a high school education. Almost one in every four immigrants has a bachelor’s or graduate degree, while one in every 10 foreign born has a master’s, professional, or doctorate degree.

Immigrants come from all walks of life and once they arrive, they follow innumerable paths.

When I tell most people that I'm a first generation immigrant, they have a hard time reconciling this with the mental image they have of a first generation immigrant. They usually comment that I am not "really" an immigrant or that I am so acculturated, I "might as well" be American. The truth is that I have a French passport, if I commit a felony I can be deported, and there is still a large - if largely invisible- cultural gap between myself and many U.S. citizens.

On the other hand, lots of people won't hesitate to assume that an Asian-American or Latino is a recent immigrant. People ask, "Where are you from?" expecting the response to include an impoverished third world nation. In fact, these individuals are often U.S. citizens with firm roots in their communities. This mentality speaks to a deeply ingrained prejudice in the U.S. psyche. For many, an immigrant MUST be poor, uneducated, and a minority. Most also expect immigrants to be male, single, and a manual laborer.

We hear this stereotype a lot but it is simply not representative. Many immigrants are poor; many are hard workers who believe in the American dream. Many are minorities, appropriately reflecting the diversity of all nations. Many speak little English upon arriving; yet these individuals may be highly educated. A Brazilian accountant may work here as a carpenter. A Ukrainian doctor as an EMT.

The tendency for U.S. citizens to view immigrants as one monolithic group - the "illegal" immigrant scrambling across the U.S.-Mexican border - is a dangerous one. It illustrates a lack of knowledge, a lack of imagination, and a lack of nuance. The world is not black and white. When nuances are stripped away, little room is left for dialogue or understanding. To see immigrants as a monolithic group, robs each individual immigrant of their identity. On the other hand, to respect the humanity of those arriving in the U.S. is to understand and appreciate their diversity.

References:
Department of Homeland Security : http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/
Migration Information Source: http://www.migrationinformation.org
Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/