Hate Rhetoric Directed at Immigrants Is an Affront to Humanity

Our society has to normalize treating all the cultures and people of the world with a basic level of respect

The World Relief Organization designated my wife’s school district as relocation point for refugee families. A few years ago, she began working with a young boy who had just come from a war torn region. The poor child couldn’t speak English, and he had such separation anxiety that my wife had to reassure him by pointing out the time on the clock when his mother would return.

She conveyed the information with hand gestures. “Only three more hours to go. Only two more hours. Only one…”

After working with him for a few days, my wife had to miss school because of an appointment. The poor boy was so distraught at her absence, that he spent the day wandering the halls screaming, “My name is Azucena!”

Those were the only words in English he knew. He couldn’t identify her name in that garble of syllables. So, in his cries of desperation he used them all.

The unreported reality of the United States is that trauma-affected immigrant children are not provided the resources they need. The media doesn’t share the stories of innocent refugees who have lost parents and loved ones in foreign wars. Telling the truth about these experiences would make the general public sympathetic to their plight. Instead, the media is content to spread unverified rumors and misinformation that vilify the innocent.

For too long immigrants have been an easy target because they don’t have anyone to stand up for them. However, if we are to call ourselves a society that values human dignity, we have to demand an end to the baseless attacks on innocent, defenseless and traumatized people.

Can you recall ever seeing a news story that represented immigrants as doctors and lawyers and engineers? When refugees are forced to move because of war or civil unrest or a natural disaster, you’re getting people from all walks of life. Why is it that our media never discusses the potential benefit of a huge influx of educated people?

I’ve often been met with shocked expressions when I mention that immigrants are often far more educated than American citizens. Immigrants can be accomplished people with advanced degrees capable of making a tremendous contribution to our society. Whether they’re laborers or doctors, the immigrants I’ve met have always been hardworking and honest.

Why is there so little discussion about that aspect of the immigration issue? Why are immigrants so infrequently represented as individual human beings with aspirations for a better life just like anyone else?

My wife was an English teacher when I met her in Peru. She has a business degree. Once here, we got her transcripts evaluated so she could find work. We need to have more honest conversations about the benefits immigrants can provide to our society. Quite often they have a humanitarian perspective that is sorely lacking in this country.

People who have endured hardship are sympathetic to the hardships of others.

My wife has worked at various school districts. She’s unusual in that she’s an ELL (English Language Learner) teacher that’s fluent in a foreign language. This has proven to be a benefit even when she works with kids who aren’t Spanish speakers like she is.

She’s able to help her students navigate their obstacles by drawing on her own experience with prejudicial treatment. More than once, she’s been regarded as an inferior because she speaks with an accent, or because she’s a woman, or there’s an assumption that a foreign degree means nothing. When she tells people that she’s educated, the most common response is shock.

Our population has been conditioned to view immigrants in a negative light. Disrespect has been widely normalized in our society. It’s shameful.

If my wife’s students do well on a math test, the other teachers commonly insist those students must have been cheating. “How is it possible that a kid that is failing every other class can get a perfect score in math?”

To my wife’s eternal frustration, she has to explain, “It’s because math is the same all over the world. ELL students aren’t stupid. In fact, they have to learn twice as much as the other kids because in addition to the subject matter, they’re also learning the language in which the lessons are taught.”

The concept of American Exceptionalism needs to be recognized as a form of unconscious bias. Even in public schools, there are teachers who assume that students can’t be smart just because they were born in a different country.

ELL students are often over represented in special education programs. One explanation might be that assessments are usually done in English rather than the native language of the student being assessed. Why is it so hard to understand that our educational system needs an approach that’s specifically tailored to the unique needs of ELL students?

This isn’t political. This is a question of human dignity.

Too often, ELL students are dumped into generic special education programs that don’t properly identify their areas of need.

There is also evidence to suggest that extreme trauma has a detrimental effect on a child’s cognitive capacity for language acquisition. In my wife’s experience as an ELL teacher, she’s often felt ill-equipped to help the students who come into her care. She’s not a psychologist, but she’s often the only person her students ever come to trust.

Students dealing with PTSD need a specific kind of therapy that’s generally not offered in the public school system.

Immigrants are human beings.

It’s time for our society to come together and resolve to help children who have had their lives destroyed by violence. It’s time to stop piling additional burdens on the backs of innocent kids who have already been forced to endure terrible hardship.

In addition to foreign wars and the loss of loved ones, these kids come to America and also have to endure the hate rhetoric of politicians who seek a political advantage in stoking the fires of hatred. Why don’t more decent people speak up in defense of the innocent?

We shouldn’t allow our neighbors, our media, or our politicians to routinely indulge in any form of baseless hate rhetoric. Unfortunately, unfair criticisms against immigrants have become so normalized that our population is completely unaware that these comments are dangerous and cruel.

Vilifying any population incites anger and leads to violence. Decent people need to speak up when innocent people become the targets of attack. The language that’s currently being used with regard to immigrants in the United States of America is shameful.

Let’s not be content that bullies leave us alone and direct their attention at defenseless, marginalized groups. Instead, let’s stand up to the bullies and let them know these aggressions are an unacceptable encroachment upon human dignity. Let’s abandon the bullies and stand with the kids.

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