[Vision2020] Freedom is a Wonderful Thing

[Tom Hansen]

Four true stories, concerning immigrants, from today's (July 2, 2006) Parade
Magazine -

http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2006/edition_07-02-2006/AImmigrant


"As the debate over immigration policy continues, it's easy to forget one
simple fact: The United States is a nation of immigrants. On this Fourth of
July weekend, we introduce you to four remarkable Americans. These men and
women came here in pursuit of dreams known to many of our own families:
freedom from political oppression, liberty to worship without government
interference, and the economic opportunity for which the U.S. has long been
known. Their stories remind us that the words engraved at the base of the
Statue of Liberty bear witness to a noble truth: For the tired, the poor,
the world's huddled masses yearning to breathe free, America remains a
powerful beacon of hope."

- The Parade Magazine Editors

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I Came For Religious Freedom
  
Ngawang Sangdrol, 27 
Born: Lhasa, Tibet 
Today: Student 

Before I was born, the Chinese destroyed much of Tibetan culture. My parents
sent me to a nunnery so I could study our Buddhist traditions, and when I
was 13, I joined some people demonstrating for freedom of religion. All we
did was chant "Long live the Dalai Lama" and "Free Tibet." 

The police tied a rope around my neck, lashed me to a tree and beat me. Then
they put me in jail for nine months. I didn't understand what I had done.
Every Tibetan loves the Dalai Lama and wants the freedom to praise him.
After my release, I joined another demonstration. This time I was sentenced
to three years in Drapchi Prison. 

We were beaten and forbidden from practicing Buddhism. One time, the guards
kicked me in the head and beat me until I fell unconscious. Later, I heard
that another nun had thrown herself on me, to save me. I had a good
relationship with the other nuns there and, in one incident, five of them
were killed by our torturers. 

At one point, 14 of us secretly recorded songs praising the Dalai Lama and
telling people of our suffering, then smuggled a tape out. We hoped our
families would hear our voices and learn that we were alive. But the tape
traveled the world, and people pressured China for our release. When the
Chinese heard about it, they added six years to my sentence. 

After 11 years in prison, I was sent home, and in 2003, I was offered asylum
in the U.S. At first I was afraid to travel to such a foreign place, but
freedom is wonderful-I can't describe how wonderful. I live in New Jersey
with two other nuns from the prison. We begin each day with prayer and have
photos of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on our walls, which is forbidden in
Tibet. I am studying English. It is my duty to speak well enough to explain
how my country is suffering, to tell the world that Tibetans deserve freedom
too.

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I Fled Genocide And Oppression

Jean-Marie Kamatali, 39 
Born: Kamembe, Rwanda 
Today: University professor 

My whole life, I have tried to avoid politics. But in Rwanda, politics are
impossible to escape. I was born in a village called Kamembe but moved to
the capital because of my parents' mixed marriage: My father is a Hutu, and
my mother is a Tutsi. We thought we would be safer in Kigali. 

I was a bright student, but mostly I was lucky. I am the first person in my
family to receive a college education. After graduating with a law degree, I
refused to work for the Hutu government. I never joined any political party,
because I sensed the danger. But in April 1994, there was no escaping
danger. It came right to our door. 

That month, the Hutus declared a campaign of genocide against all Tutsis and
moderate Hutus. The militia came and said, "We will kill you mixed people
later this month. For now, bury your dead." Each night they dumped bodies
near our home, and my father and I had to bury them in mass graves. It was
very traumatizing. While we buried the bodies, my father and I never said a
word. What was there to say? 

My parents slipped out and hid in a shipping container. I fled toward
Congo-traveling by night, sleeping in ditches by day, until I was able to
swim across the border. It was a long time before I learned that my parents
had survived. But my mother's entire family-my grandparents, uncles, aunts
and cousins-was wiped out. 

I traveled to Austria, where I met my wife and earned a doctorate in law. In
2002, an organization called the Scholar Rescue Fund helped bring me to
America, and now we live in South Bend, Ind., with our three children. It is
strange and wonderful to raise my children in such a safe place. Strange,
because I still have dreams where people who died in Rwanda speak to me. I
remember running for my life and sleeping in ditches, and I can't believe my
journey led here. 

Now I teach courses on human rights. I tell my students that terrible things
like genocide take place if people aren't aware of what's happening in the
rest of the world. In America you can feel the freedom. You can breathe.
When I returned from a conference in Europe recently, an immigration officer
at the airport told me: "Welcome home." I don't know why it touched me so
much. Maybe at that moment, after so much time running, I felt I had finally
found a place to come home to.

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My Parents Sought Opportunity

Srinija "Ninj" Srinivasan, 34 
Born: Chandigarh, India 
Today: Editor-in-chief of Yahoo! 

Growing up in Kansas, I got pretty used to people stumbling over my name.
Then a volleyball coach nicknamed me "Ninj," and it stuck. In some ways, my
family was traditionally Indian. My parents had an arranged marriage. But my
mother came from a very progressive family and was highly educated. My mom
has always been a role model for me. She has an insatiable curiosity that I
hope I inherited. 

I was born in Chandigarh, India, but when I was 3 months old, we moved to
Lawrence, where my father became a math professor at the University of
Kansas. He wanted us to have every opportunity. Being Indian-American in
Kansas made my family very close. We felt like "we're all in this together."
I think that's the reason I chose to work in an industry where everything is
connected. 

I followed my siblings to Stanford University. In college, I tried to figure
out where I fit in American culture. I studied Japanese and spent six months
in Japan. It was there I met Jerry Yang and David Filo. 

In 1995, Jerry and David asked me to join them in a venture called Yahoo! We
felt we were yahoos, because we didn't really know what we were doing. But
they had a vision of where the online world was going and asked me to
organize the sorting system for a table of contents to the Internet. It's
not like we said, "We're going to create a hierarchy for the sum total of
human knowledge." We just wanted to help bring the Internet to life. I think
we've done that. 

The Web has incredible power to bring the world together. I've tried to help
provide people with the context to understand that information. And I think
it's fitting that a woman born in India, raised in Kansas and living in
California is part of that process. I think Silicon Valley culture could
only happen here. In a place where all of these people come together from
everywhere on Earth, anything is possible.

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We Escaped Extreme Poverty

Dr. Erick Miranda, 30 
Born: Morelos, Mexico 
Today: Graduate of Harvard Medical School 

I was born into extreme poverty. My parents lived in a shack in Morelos,
Mexico. Whatever fish my dad caught was the food for the day. My
grandparents were migrant workers. When I was 3 weeks old, my grandmother
came to have a look at me. I was this little, malnourished thing, and she
said, "He's going to die if you stay here." She took me across the border
the next day, and my parents followed as soon as they could. 

Technically, I was an illegal alien, but I felt like an American even before
I became a citizen in 1995. Immigrant life for my parents was hard. My
parents divorced when I was 4. My mom has been waiting tables at the same
Mexican restaurant for 25 years. She didn't even finish eighth grade. But
she's a wise woman who has devoted herself to giving her kids a chance at a
better life. When I got to kindergarten, I couldn't even speak English. But
I learned quickly and, by second grade, something clicked and I took off. 

I made it to college at U.C.-Irvine and got into every medical school I
applied to. But when I got the letter from Harvard, I broke down and cried.
My dream had come true! I have a profound sense of debt to this country. 

In medical school, I ran a mentoring program for African-American and Latino
kids in Boston. Now I'm back in L.A., doing my residency at the L.A.
County/USC emergency medical center, which caters predominantly to poor
blacks and Latinos. I can see the relief on people's faces when they explain
their problems to a Spanish-speaking doctor. Everyone who comes to America
knows about the opportunity here. No matter where you come from or how poor
you are, there is a path open to you here if you can navigate poverty's
obstacle course. I'm proof that the American Dream is alive and well.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Uh, how about a 1-strike law. Death doesn't seem too extreme for a Level-3
sex offender."

- Dale "Comb-Over" Courtney (August 3, 2005)