My grandfather Giuseppe came over from Italy in 1901 as a teenage apprentice tailor. Immigrants didn't need a visa then: he just got off the boat. He joined the garment-workers union, became a socialist, and made a good living. In 1928, he brought my dad Raffaele, my aunt Irene and my grandma Cleonice over to the Bronx. My family benefitted from free public education up through university in the New York City College sistem. Back then, it wasn't a radical idea: it was the sensible way to grow a productive middle class of critically thinking citizens.

I volunteer with OneAmerica because I want to pass on the good things this country gave my family to newcomers, regardless of where they come from or what their immigration status is. OneAmerica is in the forefront of doing this good work, and I ask you to support it generously.