New York, immigration and Ellis Island

When I went to New York, some years ago, I stayed at some friends of my grannie´s place.
They were both in their 80ies. Helene was born in New York from a family of Italian immigrants. She grew up in the Bronx, and then she married the son of other Italian immigrants. She couldnt speak Italian.
Albert was born in Italy, in a small village in Campania. He went to New York, by boat (!) when he was around 17. He told me that when he arrived he had to stop for a while at Ellis Island and he told me a lot of stories about those who gathered there. He could speak Italian, the problem was that I couldnt understand the weird southern Italy dialect he was speaking.

Today I saw these pics. It is a great way to remember that we have been immigrants, we still are immigrants and, as we are always talking about respect, we should first of all have respect for all the foreign people living in Italy, if we want then to be respected abroad.