BOSTON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR DISCUSSES FAMILY’S IMMIGRATION

BOSTON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR DISCUSSES FAMILY’S IMMIGRATION
By Andrew Benjamin




BOSTON- Professor Nina Silber of Boston University (no relation to former Boston University president John Silber) rarely ever gets to talk about immigration. As a Civil War professor, she spends her time talking every semester about why Abraham Lincoln was shot. Now it is different, as she is being given the opportunity to speak of how her family came to America and how she feels about the current immigration debate.
Dressed in a neatly ironed informal black jacket, along with a matching skirt, she spoke very clearly and openly about both topics.
“My grandmother on my mother’s side, who I never knew, was born in the country of Moldavia,” she said
“My grandfather on that side parents were born in Lithuania, which I believe borders Moldavia, and I believe emigrated to America when they were teenagers.”
Her grandmother’s family came to Ellis Island, then settled in New York in the late 1800s. Her grandfather was born in the United States.
She believes it was for purely economic reasons that her grandmother’s family came to the U.S. “They were a simple, poor family that just wanted to achieve the American dream just like so many other immigrants,” she said.

Her grandmother’s family eventually opened a bar that has since closed down.
Her family on her father’s side has a different story. “My father’s mother and father were both born in Germany,” she said. “I was told they came here to escape the anti-Semitism that was in Germany, even though it was before the rise of Hitler.”
As for her father’s family, they came to the U.S. and resided in New York, where the family opened a laundromat. That closed down after some time.
Silber, whose name comes from her father’s side, could not remember off the top of her head how her grandmother and grandfather met. “They met sometime in New York during the 1910’s, as far as I can remember.”
Concerning the current immigration situation, Silber considers herself “pretty liberal” on the issue.
“I understand why they come here illegally,” she said. “We have the jobs and opportunity that they don’t have and also don’t pay very well. That’s one of the reasons why my family wound up coming here.”
She also does not have a positive opinion on the new fence that is to be constructed on the Texas border. “I don’t see how a wall does anything. If you look at the history of walls, they just do not work,” she said.
Overall, she said she feels that while there should be border security, there should be no restriction on those who want to immigrate here. “Of course, we should have some type of security that dictates where the border between the countries starts,” she said. “But, we should not go the route of immigration quotas. If someone wants to come here, we should welcome them and give them a path to citizenship.”