As Immigration Takes Center Stage, Thoughts From Walt Whitman

G. Frank E. Pearsall/National Portrait Gallery , via Associated Press Walt Whitman

The issue of what to do about the 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States has taken center stage with President Obama and Congress firing the opening salvo in their efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws. The discussion has focused on making efforts to better secure the country’s border with Mexico a priority.

But many Latino leaders say the time has come to finally place illegal immigrants, many of whom are Latinos, on a path that would make them lawful citizens. As Mr. Obama said, the debate over the mmigration plan will promise to be an emotional one. It also shines a spotlight on the changing face of America and what that means for the country, a theme that has persisted throughout history.

City Room was reminded that more than 100 years ago one of America’s greatest poets, Walt Whitman, offered his own reflection of the nation’s shifting population and in particular the role of people of Hispanic origin. In 1883, Whitman had been asked to participate in ceremonies marking the 333rd anniversary of the founding of Santa Fe. He could not attend, but instead sent a letter â€" published in The New York Times on August 7 of that year â€" to the organizers in which he discussed his views of what he called the “American identity” and the “Spanish stock” of the Southwest.

“It is certain to me that we do not begin to appreciate the splendor and sterling value of its race element,” Whitman wrote of the Spanish-speaking population. “Who knows bu! t that element, like the course of some subterranean river, dipping invisibly for a hundred or two years, is now to emerge in broadest flow and permanent action”

Below is the full text of the letter.

1883 Whitman Letter on the Spanish (PDF)

1883 Whitman Letter on the Spanish (Text)