Deportation, its meaning and menace: Last message to the people of America by Alexander Berkman and Emma GoldmanGoldman, Emma
History
Deportation, its meaning and menace: Last message to the people of America by Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman
Goldman, Emma
Anarchism; Deportation
The story is interesting and enlightening. More than eight years ago
Secret Service men of the Federal Government were ordered to gather
“material” in Rochester, N. Y., or elsewhere, that would enable the
authorities to disfranchise a certain Rochester citizen. The man in
question was of no concern whatever to Washington, as subsequent events
proved. He was an ordinary citizen, a quiet working man, without any
interest in social or political questions. He was never known to
entertain any unpopular views or opinions. As a matter of fact, the man
had long been considered dead by his local friends and acquaintances;
since he had disappeared from his home years previously and no clue to
his whereabouts or any sign that he was still among the living could be
found; indeed, has not been found till this day, notwithstanding the
best efforts. At great expense, and with considerable winking at its own
rules and regulations in such matters, the United States Government
finally disfranchised the man—the corpse, perhaps, for anything known to
the contrary. The proceeding necessitated a good deal of secrecy and
subterfuge, for even the wife of the man in question, whose status as
citizen by right of her marriage was involved, was not apprised by the
Government of its intended action. On the pretext that the man was not
fully of legal age at the time of his naturalization—about 20 years
before—the mighty Republic of America declared the citizenship of the
man of unknown whereabouts and against whom no crime or offence of any
kind was ever charged, as null and void.
Ten years passed. The disfranchised citizen, so far as humanly known,
was still as dead as at the time of his denaturalization. No trace of
him could be found, and nothing more was heard of the motives and
purposes of the Government in depriving of citizenship a man who had
apparently been dead for years. Dark and peculiar are the ways of
Government.
More time passed. Then it became known that the United States Government
intended to deport Emma Goldman. But Emma Goldman had acquired
citizenship by marriage 30 years before, and, as a citizen, she could
not be deported under the present laws of the United States. But lo and
behold! The Government suddenly announced that Emma Goldman was a
citizen no more, because her husband had been disfranchised ten years
ago!
Dark and peculiar indeed are the ways of government. But there is method
in its madness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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