When a Former President Becomes a Painter
How brushstrokes can send a positive message on immigration
On April 20th, 2021, the book, Out of One, Many: Portraits of America’s Immigrants was published. The book is a compilation of 43 portraits of immigrants that came to the United States for a better life. Some of these portraits are of famous people, ones who made an impact of some kind after becoming citizens; while others are of people, you may never have heard of if not for this book.
“CBS Sunday Morning” recently ran an interview of President George W. Bush, hosted by Nora O’Donnell, which delves into the pastime that the former president took up after leaving office in 2009. I was amazed at the quality of the portraits that he has painted, but I was more moved by his yearning to bring awareness to the immigration problem facing our country, a problem that in my opinion has been heavily damaged during the previous four years.
At the end of this article, you can access a link to watch the eight-minute segment that was shown on “CBS Sunday Morning.”
At one point during the interview, while speaking on the problems of the immigration debate, the president utters such a poignant and beautiful quote:
“A nation that is willing to accept the refugees, or the harmed, or the frightened, to me, is a great nation; and we are a great nation.”
Near the end of the video, and referring to the paintings, Ms. O’Donnell asks,
“But how does it change policy?”
President Bush replies,
“It doesn’t, but it’s a part of, hopefully, creating a better understanding about . . . the role of immigration in our society. Mine is just a small voice in what I hope is a chorus of people saying . . . ‘Let’s see if we can solve the problem.’”
Many presidents have undertaken important and altruistic endeavors after their terms have ended. With the publication of this book, President Bush has found a way to use the fruits of a relaxing hobby to further policies that he championed while in office.
Hopefully, the stories in this book may be seen as a small catalyst that can bring our two-party system closer together and better suited to finding common ground, and then finally ready to do the hard work needed to address some of these complex immigration issues.