Our hearts break as we watch Ukrainians fleeing war and we applaud our neighbors who step up offering tangible support. But are we brave enough to create a wide circle that embraces people worldwide in distress? Our country has an ugly tiered immigration history based on nationality, color and religion that separates the “worthy” from those barred. Canonized in law for large swaths of our history we have banned Asians, Middle Easterners and people of African descent. Without even a hearing, we turn back Haitians fleeing poverty, earthquakes and hurricanes, unstable regimes and possible death. Let us not forget the images of insidious border agents on horseback literally charging and beating back Haitian refugees. And too many Afghans — who risked their lives to support our military entanglements as translators, soldiers, strategists and much more — still languish on our overseas military bases awaiting entry into the U.S. The few who do reach our shores may find themselves in crowded temporary housing with minimal supports. And these are the “fortunate” ones. We fled, abandoning an estimated 30,000 Afghans navigating, some for years, our immigration hoops; and how many more sought asylum in the war’s waning days? Their plight weighs heavy on our nation’s soul. And Mexicans … And … And…. I am an immigrant’s daughter. My father left Haiti as a young adult. He began working as a laborer but eventually earned his engineering degree from M.I.T. and was on the team that designed the first Apollo Project. Newspapers cannot print the words Trump uttered in castigating Haitians. I counter with a line from the great African American poet Langston Hughes: “I, too, sing America.” Please, my fellow citizens, we can do better. We will be enriched by opening our arms to the beautiful rainbow of skills and cultures. And we will be doing the right thing.
Rev. Dr. Adele Smith-Penniman
Wendell