By Alex Webbe
The move by the USPA to promote American players for placement on teams in the United States is just around the corner, but we’d better take a closer look at our intentions and our definitions of the players involved.
Recently, two US National polo teams were organized to compete against the English (Westchester Cup) and the Mexicans (Camacho Cup), yet a number of experience high-goal players were overlooked because of their citizenship-or I should say- because of the date of their citizenship.
Hector Galindo was born in Mexico but today is s US citizen and Luis Escobar was born in Costa Rica, but for nearly twenty years, has been a citizen of the United States, but I doubt if either of them was considered as potential members of the US team in either international series. On the other hand, Pelon Escapite was born in Texas, but will be competing for Mexico in the Camacho Cup-evidently because of the ethnicity of his last name.
What we must understand is that all of these high-goal players are US citizens, and as such should be considered for inclusion on any national team. There is no such thing as a 2nd class citizen of this country, and we do ourselves, and our country a disservice by practicing this behavior.
I know there are certain jealousies surrounding selection of players to high-goal teams and certainly some animosity regarding the selection of a US citizen to a US team over an “American born” player, but under the law, there is no difference. Once a person becomes a US citizen they have all of the rights and privileges of any other citizen-with the one exception of not being able to serve as President of the United States.
The prejudice that is being discussed regarding non-American born US citizens must stop! It is time for us to embrace these players as our own and see to it that they get every opportunity any other US player receives.
The mockery of trying to promote US players inclusion on high-goal teams is blasphemous if we don’t recognize these foreign-born, US citizens as being just as much Americans as any of the others. Like it, don’t like it, it’s irrelevant, it’s in the Constitution. The US Constitution applies to EVERY US citizen. There is no footnote for those not born in this country.