COMMENT | We owe migrant workers gratitude for building our world

COMMENT | A friend of mine sent me a photo which showed a woman carrying a placard that read: “2/3 of (former US president Donald) Trump’s wives were immigrants….”

While the woman was accurate in her remarks and made a valid point, she seemed oblivious to US history. Apart from the Native Americans, the rest of the US population are descendants of immigrants.

I discussed this point with friends and mentioned I am proud that my roots can be traced to a small village Valiathura in Trivandrum, Kerala.

A friend responded, “We all come from somewhere” - a pertinent remark suggesting we all have our roots. Only one person I know of seems ashamed of his roots.

The US has been a melting pot of migrants from around the world. The Native Americans are the land’s original inhabitants, but they have suffered the most. It took a couple of centuries to reduce such racial discrimination in the US, although some pockets of discrimination still exist in parts of the US.