To the editor: A nation of immigrants should stand against hate

letters-to-the-editor-logoOn Sunday, Nov. 20, I stopped to get gas at the Chester Citgo. On the back window of the pick-up truck parked in front of me were large letters in the shape of a map of the United States that spelled out: “F**k off/We’re full.”

I immediately thought of my immigrant great-grandparents, of how hard they worked and how much discrimination they faced. Their story has been played out from generation to generation, right up to today. I wondered if the truck owner was 100 percent Native American, because otherwise his family came to this country as immigrants too. I also thought of how disrespectful this message is to this great nation, which is nothing if not a nation of immigrants. There is a reason why the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of our country.

I have nothing against someone expressing his or her opinion, even if it is a hateful one, as this one is. But hate must be answered back.

I find the message on this truck an insult to the sacrifices of my great-grandparents, an insult to the sacrifices made by the immigrants of today, and insult to our nation. Loving this wonderful country means cherishing the diversity it contains.

I don’t know how we, as a community, can answer hate speech like this, but I hope we will.

Madeline Bodin
Andover

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  1. Chris Wallace says:

    Thank you Madeline for speaking out in answer to the hate (and the seemingly impassive tolerance of hate) around us with your public rededication to the values of acceptance and inclusivity that define and unite us as both Vermonters and Americans.