Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
I am supportive of differences of opinion, about religion, politics, or social issues. However, when Donald Trump, a political leader, uses terms echoing the fascist leader of Naziism, Adolf Hitler, against immigrants, I feel called to speak out. My grandparents were immigrants and they didn’t poison the blood of this country. Donald Trump, himself, was a child of an immigrant (his mother didn’t become an American citizen until 1942) and he married several immigrants. Does he think they poisoned the blood of our country?
Using the language of Adolf Hitler to condemn immigrants is unacceptable. Thousands of Americans died working to defeat Hitler’s fascist government. I question how people can use such language if they support America. President Ronald Reagan claimed that welcoming and incorporating immigrants into our country was part of the American Dream. Immigration worked for me and my family and I urge others to work to protect the future of immigration to our country.
My mother didn’t speak English when she started school and faced discrimination because of it. When my mother worked at a resort during the 1930s she was told not to serve Jewish people, but she remembered what discrimination felt like when she was a child and she served everyone without questioning their religion or their nationality.
As an ordained minister for the last 50 years, I urge people to follow the doctrine of love and acceptance, not hate and condemnation.
The Rev. Charles Stephens
Blue Hill
