By Mary O’KEEFE

State Senator Anthony Portantino has received many awards throughout his years of service but on Saturday, May 11, he received an award that wasn’t just for himself, but honored his family who immigrated through Ellis Island about 100 years ago.

Portantino was awarded the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award.

“This means a lot to me,” Portantino said. “My grandparents came through Ellis Island 100 years ago.”

Portantino’s grandparents emigrated from Italy and faced discrimination as they came to find their American dream.

“There was a cartoon in the New York paper with rats leaving a ship [docked at the East coast harbor], and they each had Italian names,” Portantino said.

The comparison of how immigrants were received when his grandparents were entering the United States and how immigrants are looked at today is unavoidable.

Portantino said he felt it was unfortunate that a few in power have previously, and still continue, to use fear to subjugate a class of people, specifically immigrants. He added that that attitude does not align with Judeo-Christian or American values.

Portantino was in good company with 92 fellow honorees that were recognized on Saturday including Congressman Adam Schiff.

“Ellis Island has been a beacon of hope for generations of immigrants who traveled from across the world in the hope of starting a new life in America. In the early 1900s, my grandfather arrived at a different port of entry, Boston harbor, and our family would settle there to build a better life,” said Rep. Schiff. “To visit these places where millions of immigrants have stood, or visit with those who walked hundreds of miles to our Southern border and try to put ourselves in their shoes, gives us a window into the incredible and often harrowing immigrant experience. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity and extend my sincere congratulations to my fellow honorees, who each have made profound contributions to the vibrancy of this diverse nation.”

The Ellis Island Honors Society was founded in 1986. The Ellis Island Medals of Honor are sponsored by the EIHS and are presented annually to “American citizens who have distinguished themselves within their own ethnic groups while exemplifying the values of the American way of life,” according to the EIHS website.

The Medals of Honor embody the “spirit of America in their salute to tolerance, brotherhood, diversity and patriotism.”

Since the first Ellis Island Medal of Honor was awarded in 1986, the organization has recognized seven US Presidents, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Nobel Laureates Elie Wiesel and Malala Yousafzai, and civil rights activists Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks, among others. The honorees are native-born or naturalized citizens.

From 1892 to 1954 over 12 million immigrants used Ellis Island as the portal to the new life in the United Staes. The island itself is located just off the New Jersey coast. In 1890 the site was recognized as the first Federal immigration station by President Benjamin Harrison.

Portantino said he was honored not only for the recognition but by the two Medal of Honor awardees Mary Najarian and Cecile Keshishan.

“It’s not often that I have the opportunity to honor my parents and grandparents in a manner that captures my family’s proud immigrant legacy,” Portantino stated. “Without my grandparents coming to the US, my mother’s strength of character and warmth, and my father’s service during WWII, which provided him the educational opportunity to provide for me and my three siblings, I would not be the person I am today.”

  Mary Okeefe