Pictured are Ray Lenarcic’s relatives. In front, Mary, Fred, Louis — gram-uncle-gramp. In back are Mary, aunt; Ray, my dad, and Frances, aunt.

Labor Day … a day we celebrate the men and women whose hard work made and make this the great nation it is. For me, it’s a day to remember the generations of immigrants whose endless toil while enduring physical and emotional hardships have gone unrecognized far too long.

Included among the latter were my grandparents, Louis and Mary (Mitzi) Lenarcic. After disembarking at Ellis Island in 1904, they made their way to Little Falls to join other Slovenian families who had arrived earlier and settled in the Rock City. Ultimately, Louis got a job at the Hammer Shop while Mary catered to the needs of boarders at their Elizabeth Street home-slaving half the day washing, cleaning and cooking while mothering four children. A difficult life was made more difficult by having to endure the daily taunts and indignities concomitant with being identified as “D.P.s” (displaced persons). Their one salvation were weekends at the Slovenian Hall on the southside where they could enjoy the camaraderie of their friends-friends who had each other’s backs — especially those who had fallen on hard times. They underwent similar experiences while providing invaluable labor for emerging industries. Throughout it all, they were able to maintain their cultural heritage.

Their children and children’s children went on to become teachers, merchants, doctors, lawyers, dentists, factory workers, mechanics, nurses and priests. Count Rudy Scialdo, Jr., Dr. Joe Conigilaro, the Petkovsek brothers, Bruddy Zysk, Pete and Angie Wiliczka and myself proudly among that group.

America’s immigration story goes way back. It’s a saga of hope and heartache; of being welcomed with open arms until no longer needed. Erica Lee in her chapter on immigration in Myth America identifies the “They Keep Coming” myth. It works like this. Typically, non-white and/or non-Protestant immigrants were dangerous foreigners who came here uninvited to take jobs away from Americans and to harm its people and institutions; a hostile invasion of the nation. And “they keep coming.”

A classic and too often forgotten example of this involved Honest Abe Lincoln. On July 4, 1864, he signed into law an act to encourage immigration — in effect, he wanted them to keep coming. With hundreds of thousands of American lives lost in the Civil War, both the civilian and Army workforce had been depleted. Who best to fill labor shortages on farms, factories, and mines, or, in return for a cash bonus, the military, than European immigrants?

As a further incentive, the government offered Western homesteads to them even before they attained citizenship. Lincoln’s bill even authorized private financing that provided impoverished emigres with money to cross the ocean. Shortly thereafter, a flood of immigrants washed over the land. And they kept coming. Labor problem solved. The president never believed immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of America, stating in July of 1858 that inclusion was “the electric cord … that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together.”

Unfortunately, Lincoln was the exception. Xenophobia (hatred of foreigners) has poisoned the hearts and minds of millions of Americans, leaders and commoners, from Colonial times until the present. Some key examples:

— According to Lee, Donald Trump and Ben Franklin shared similar and xenophobic views of foreigners. In 1775, the latter characterized our largest non-English group of white settlers, the Germans, as “swarthy” aliens who “herd together” and would soon be” so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them.” Old Ben’s immigration myth was exploded by none other than William Penn who used various means to recruit the same people. Successfully. No Germans, no settlement of Pennsylvania. And they kept coming and stayed!

— Between 1846 and 1855, 1.5 million people fled their native Ireland in the wake of the infamous potato famine which killed 15% of the population. Who the hey do you think dug the Erie Canal? And they kept coming and stayed!

— Then there was the Chinese immigration myth, seen as an unarmed invasion “imperiling the state and nation.” Myth exploded-they were pushed, lured and bought to come to do indispensable work on the country’s railroads (e.g. Transcontinental), and in factories, canneries, fisheries and fields. Excluded yet included.

— The immigration myth has affected Mexicans for over a century. Despite providing an invaluable source of labor in the Southwest, they were demonized as “low-grade Spaniards…mulattoes and other mongrels,” deported in large numbers and subjected to federal laws designed to curtail them from keeping on coming (e.g. 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act). Interestingly, the “Get ‘Em Out” policy has been bipartisan-the “They Keep Coming” myth having been institutionalized into federal immigration policy. Trump takes a lot of heat, much well deserved, for reducing to gross hyperbole the threat of today’s migrants — “all rapists, drug addicts, criminals, mentally ill.” He also has pledged to deport millions if elected. Lest he take all the heat, Big Bill Clinton helped perpetuate the myth by implementing new border initiatives, accepting rather than rejecting the idea that immigration was a dangerous invasion (e.g. Operation Gatekeeper). And none other than Barack Obama joined that club. His administration deported over 5 million people and had 651 miles of border fence constructed. During this period, one can only wonder how many of these “undesirables” have earned their citizenship, are holding down jobs and paying taxes.

This Labor Day weekend, as you enjoy the extra day off and end of summer shindigs, keep in mind the invaluable contributions of our immigrants.

Regardless of their color, faith or whether or not their last names ended in a vowel, and despite enduring the racism, violence and hatred perpetrated by a xenophobic public, they labored diligently to help build the foundation upon which our nation stands. Thank God they kept coming.

Ray Lenarcic is a 1965 State University of New York at Fredonia graduate and is a resident of Herkimer.