Last year, I visited with friends who had just received their DNA test results from two different entities: 23 and Me and Ancestry.  One knew that his parents were of Polish and Italian Catholic extraction and one knew one parent was Swedish and the other was German.  So, when John exclaimed, “I’m African” and Jenna said, “I’m sixty percent Jewish,” it came as a big surprise to them. Plus, there were lots of other ethnicities thrown in, to boot!  I had the least diversity – ninety-five percent Eastern European with small percentages of Iberian Peninsula, Scandinavia and the Middle East making up the other five percent. I was a little surprised.  I thought I was one hundred percent Eastern European. But, no. Nobody’s one hundred percent of anything. We are a blend.

More often than not, people are mind-blown when they receive their DNA test results.  In a time of increasing xenophobia, it would seem instructive and perspective-altering for people to recognize their own ethnic and racial diversity before casting aspersions on others.  You would think that, at the very least, it would help some people develop a sense of empathy for others who share even a small piece of their genetic history and a sense of recognition that the biggest melting pot in this country resides within ourselves. 

Let’s consider what’s going on in the United States today. There’s a big push to control – or terminate – immigration, with strong prejudices against certain ethnic and religious groups. Should we just assume that people who are escaping oppressive countries in order to save their lives and the lives of their children are coming to the United States to create havoc and destroy our way of life?  Tell me: How did your forebears make it into America the Beautiful – land of the free, home of the brave, where our Constitution said that all men were created equal – when they were escaping persecution or starvation or some other disaster elsewhere? This country was built on the backs of immigrants. Don’t forget that almost all of us are descendants of immigrants. 

Xenophobia is based on fear of the unknown and it’s taught, not learned. Instead of getting to know people from different cultures, we are being encouraged to hate and fear what we don’t know.  It’s amazing how many people don’t get that.  Last week, eleven Jews got killed in a synagogue in Pittsburgh during a baby naming ceremony by a white man who was motivated to kill Jews.  And two black people were killed outside a grocery store in Jeffersontown, Kentucky by a white man who tried to enter a predominantly black church minutes before the attack. And on and on and on. 

Can you think of anything more dangerous than a white man emboldened with privilege and deranged with hate/fear and armed with an automatic weapon? Can you imagine a Jewish person bursting into a Methodist church and blowing away a bunch of good white Christians during a Sunday sermon? Have you heard of any African Americans blowing away a schoolhouse full of children lately?

This is not a political issue.  This is a humanitarian issue. How can anybody with a conscience allow this to happen in this country?  Too many people are turning a blind eye to the atrocities that are being committed in the good-old U.S.A. because they are afraid of losing their white privilege. They want to keep immigrants out to protect their white privilege and they want to have access to guns to protect their white privilege.  But, automatic weapons? Outside of the military, there is absolutely no reason for civilians to own automatic weapons unless it is to kill as many other civilians as possible. You don’t go after Bambi with an assault rifle. Take this seriously. You don’t want your little blonde-haired children caught in the crossfire at the mall.

And, for those who hide behind the righteousness of the Bible, Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”  He didn’t say, “Love thy neighbor but only if thy neighbor is a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.”

Listen up. Try a little love.  Check your hatred at the door.  You are more than who you think you are.  You love this country?  Remember where you’re coming from.