With the recent hullabaloo going on about diversity, division and separating the “we” from the “them” in the news lately, I had to ponder about what is right and fair. Are we a nation of immigrants? Yes. Did we displace the indigenous people already here? Yes. We put them on reservations because we were taught it was “manifest destiny” in school, among other reasons.
Then came the second Great War, and the powers that be put certain groups of people in internment camps, supposedly for their own protection.
Never mind that when the war ended, many had lost their homes and businesses because while they were interred, others took possession of the things they had to leave behind for protracted periods of time (the old “possession is nine-tenths of the law” slogan).
So here we are today, and we are once again faced with a dilemma: What to do with people who our president says are an “infest”[ation] coming across our southern border.”
And what about those pesky Canadians? Could they be next? And what about people who are of mixed parentage? The questions could go on ad infinitum.
At the doctor’s office the other day, I was filling out their questionnaire, and when it came to “Ethnicity,” I noted I had several choices. I chose, though, to write in the word “human.”
Something to ponder.
V. Leigh Nielsen
Durango
