good evening there’s a song by moving
listeners that was very popular in the
1970s and 1980s
and the lyrics go my wife begged me not
to sing that we got nobody K given any
positive value can a guess meet the end
of money
the song is a homage to Kavita the
region of northern Spain and it’s a
calling to coming Gallegos who had a
living outside of their place of origin
my dad my dad every senior he’s from
ngati kea and he would constantly play
this long and you know for him you know
he felt a strong desire to go back this
long for me at the time was not my most
favorite i it didn’t resonate with my
experience I much preferred songs like
MC Hammer and and Michael Jackson but it
it spoke to his experience and I’m the
son of two immigrants and my life story
hasn’t shaved by being a native and a
migrant and trying to be an empathetic
speaker or translators between both
worlds when I moved to South Carolina
about ten years ago and one thing that
really inspired me I was fascinated to
find out that South Carolina has a rich
immigrant history the so for instance
Boston South Carolina has
was the home of one of the largest
Jewish communities in the United States
in the 1800s there is large native born
born Jewish comedian Charles the Irish
have also enjoyed a important place in
the American memory of the American
South Irish immigrants started moving to
Charleston and other cities in the 1840s
due to the Great Famine and and they
started to become southerners another
important group are there was large
great migration of Greeks moved to the
United States in the 1890s and as in
their early 1900’s they start moving to
South Carolina
professor Dino Trancas in his book for
memory isn’t eternal he speaks on the
first Greek to come to schwarber and and
that was his grandfather Nicholas traits
many of these immigrant groups that
initially moved to South Carolina
they had some transnational ties back to
their home countries but they were a
relatively small corner of the community
they were less than 5% of the population
in South Carolina in the 1960s 1970s
however there is largely of Colombians
from the country of Colombia that moved
to the Upstate specifically Greenville
and they started to form a very vibrant
community right here in South Carolina
and you know and and now for the first
time Hispanic immigrants are
constituting an important group in
different pockets of self
you could go to Arcadia elementary
school and it’s one of three Hispanic
majority schools in South Carolina
the Upstate South there’s there’s more
than 60,000 Hispanics right here in this
part of the state and it’s creating in
many ways a very vibrant community and
about half of Hispanic immigrants are
native born another half are
international and it’s it’s it’s created
this vibrant community that in many ways
reminds me of that they may bring
community vigor up them in the Northeast
listening to songs by Ludacris yes and
while I’m inspired by the great
diversity that’s here in South Carolina
one thing that’s that’s troubling me is
the fact that there’s a cultural divide
that’s grown in recent years between
native and migrants we’re living in
times of intense nativism not just here
in South Carolina but in other parts of
the United States and also in other
countries of the world and this this is
very troubling because even the family
who raised me they also saw the dark
side of nativism in the form of extreme
nationalism and violence and so to the
students here today we’re listening to
the to the natives to the migrants to
those who may occupy a space in both
worlds what I hope for is that we have
more empathetic translators and Ridge
builders who are able to leave together
collaborative between natives and
you [Applause]
listeners that was very popular in the
1970s and 1980s
and the lyrics go my wife begged me not
to sing that we got nobody K given any
positive value can a guess meet the end
of money
the song is a homage to Kavita the
region of northern Spain and it’s a
calling to coming Gallegos who had a
living outside of their place of origin
my dad my dad every senior he’s from
ngati kea and he would constantly play
this long and you know for him you know
he felt a strong desire to go back this
long for me at the time was not my most
favorite i it didn’t resonate with my
experience I much preferred songs like
MC Hammer and and Michael Jackson but it
it spoke to his experience and I’m the
son of two immigrants and my life story
hasn’t shaved by being a native and a
migrant and trying to be an empathetic
speaker or translators between both
worlds when I moved to South Carolina
about ten years ago and one thing that
really inspired me I was fascinated to
find out that South Carolina has a rich
immigrant history the so for instance
Boston South Carolina has
was the home of one of the largest
Jewish communities in the United States
in the 1800s there is large native born
born Jewish comedian Charles the Irish
have also enjoyed a important place in
the American memory of the American
South Irish immigrants started moving to
Charleston and other cities in the 1840s
due to the Great Famine and and they
started to become southerners another
important group are there was large
great migration of Greeks moved to the
United States in the 1890s and as in
their early 1900’s they start moving to
South Carolina
professor Dino Trancas in his book for
memory isn’t eternal he speaks on the
first Greek to come to schwarber and and
that was his grandfather Nicholas traits
many of these immigrant groups that
initially moved to South Carolina
they had some transnational ties back to
their home countries but they were a
relatively small corner of the community
they were less than 5% of the population
in South Carolina in the 1960s 1970s
however there is largely of Colombians
from the country of Colombia that moved
to the Upstate specifically Greenville
and they started to form a very vibrant
community right here in South Carolina
and you know and and now for the first
time Hispanic immigrants are
constituting an important group in
different pockets of self
you could go to Arcadia elementary
school and it’s one of three Hispanic
majority schools in South Carolina
the Upstate South there’s there’s more
than 60,000 Hispanics right here in this
part of the state and it’s creating in
many ways a very vibrant community and
about half of Hispanic immigrants are
native born another half are
international and it’s it’s it’s created
this vibrant community that in many ways
reminds me of that they may bring
community vigor up them in the Northeast
listening to songs by Ludacris yes and
while I’m inspired by the great
diversity that’s here in South Carolina
one thing that’s that’s troubling me is
the fact that there’s a cultural divide
that’s grown in recent years between
native and migrants we’re living in
times of intense nativism not just here
in South Carolina but in other parts of
the United States and also in other
countries of the world and this this is
very troubling because even the family
who raised me they also saw the dark
side of nativism in the form of extreme
nationalism and violence and so to the
students here today we’re listening to
the to the natives to the migrants to
those who may occupy a space in both
worlds what I hope for is that we have
more empathetic translators and Ridge
builders who are able to leave together
collaborative between natives and
you [Applause]
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