Pat Dollard | Young Americans

You can learn a lot about how Europe is changing by talking to former Europeans, explains Frank Genao, a bartender who winters in the Dominican Republic. He pours drinks for countless expatriates who were disturbed by the transformation of their nations by immigrants who don’t respect their countries’ “values, laws, or freedoms” and packed their bags.

Pajama’s Media
By Frank Genao

I’m sitting in the Dominican Republic talking to one of the many European workers who have migrated down here in recent years. “How long you been on the island?” I ask him.

“Oh, about four years now,” he replies.

What brought you to this particular island?” I ask, always curious as to why so many foreigners have come here.

“I came here,” he says, “because I got tired of the Belgium winters, the unemployment, and the influx of immigrants that don’t respect Belgium values, laws, or freedoms.”

Funny. I’ve been hearing this same answer over and over, or variations of it, for the past five years or so, especially since 9/11.

“Look,” he bends over the bar to get closer to me, “I’m from Brussels, Frank. I’ve lived in Belgium my whole life, I love my country, and I love my culture. I went to school with a lot of immigrants; many of whom I worked with, studied with and who became my closest friends. I played football with them, hung out with them.

“But when nearly all my Muslim friends despise the Belgium system, despise our education system, despise our tax system, our culture, our values, and our way of life, and then, on top of that, do everything in their powers to exploit our system to the fullest, well, you just get sick of it, and eventually, you don’t want to be around it any more.”

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