Earlier today, Ann Coulter, a prominent supporter of Donald Trump, the current Republican Presidential candidate who has throughout this election displayed intense leanings towards embracing and spreading xenophobia, which is classified as the irrational fear of individuals from a nation other than your own, took to Twitter to question the validity of voters whose grandparents were foreign born.
I, along with author and educator John Green, known for novels such as The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns, and the ever-popular YouTube tutoring channel he runs with his brother, Hank Green, along with millions of other Americans who liked his Facebook status, are flabbergasted by her inability to accept an overwhelming number of Americans as intellectually valid people whose opinions matter. By complaining “if only people with at least 4 grandparents born in America were voting, Trump would win in a 50-state landslide”, she disrespects families who recently immigrated to the States. She attempts to make them feel less worthy, less creative, less human. This tweet displays the fact that she thoroughly believes the grandchildren of immigrants lack rationality and judgement and knowledge of the US and its history and politics. This tweet is an insult to their intelligence, individualism, and ingenuity. It is an insult to the author of this Her Campus DePaul article.
I do not possess a single grandparent who was born inside the United States. My maternal grandparents lived their whole lives near L’viv, Ukraine. My Babcia was a school teacher, and her husband, my Deedo, an electrician. They lived on an orchard filled with mostly apple trees for decades, raised their daughters there, and eventually sent my mother and aunt to Ivan Franko National University of L’viv, one of the most prestigious universities in the nation (one became an educator, the other an economist). But does the fact that Yaroslava and Volodymyr were ethnic Ukrainians who lived in their native country and spoke their native tongue make me undeserving of the right to vote in a presidential election? I think not.
For starters, because my grandparents were Ukrainians, I was raised in a bilingual household. I have spoken both English and Ukrainian for as long as I can remember. The benefits of bilingualism on the brain have been thoroughly studied by a myriad of psychologists; the results have been published within numerous publications, varying from scientific journals to The New York Times How many languages are you fluent in, Ann?
Educationally, the fact that my grandparents were not from the US of A has been advantageous for me because to better my knowledge of Ukrainian grammar, history, culture, geography, literature, religion, and current events, I attended Ukrainian School every Saturday from grades 1st through 10th. I had double the teachers, textbooks, and tests compared to the average American child; I attended two schools simultaneously. I also obtained good grades and eventually graduated amongst the top of my class (top 20% for American school and top 4 students for Ukrainian). What did you do every Saturday as a child, Ann?
Culturally, I have also been benefited via the fact that my grandparents were ethnic Ukrainians who lived there their whole lives; I have visited family in L’viv twice in my life. How many times have you wandered through the cobblestone streets of an Eastern European city, explored a centuries old university because a family friend is faculty, wandered through open air markets, and pet all the neighborhood cats, Ann?
I am the grandchild of people who were not American. I was influenced by knowledge and ideas not native to the country I was born in. I do not think this fact about my family and culture and upbringing inhibits me from correctly voting for The President of the United States, Ann. In fact, it enables me to be even more intelligent, more empathetic, and more open to the words and ideas that are spoken on this Earth. “American” is not a standard for greatness, Ann. My Ukrainian grandparents were ten times the human beings you shall ever be. I am ten times the human being you shall ever be.
PS: Thank you, John Green, for your innate ability to kick ass via education, literature, and life.