Letters: Readers discuss the dark and the light of America and immigration raids

Who we are

This country has a very dark side. As proof, I doubt anyone is shocked by the Sunday guest commentary written by the former police dispatcher who described the casual bigotry she often encountered among people working in law enforcement. (19A, “Law enforcement doesn’t have to be ‘us versus them’”)

We are the KKK.

We interred Japanese Americans who committed no crimes.

We separate children from their parents at the border.

If we shine a bright light on America, we will see a lot of things scurrying for the shadows.

That’s who we are.

But we are also Emma Lazarus, the Jewish American poet who wrote the verses inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty. We are Rodgers and Hammerstein addressing racism in “South Pacific.”

We are three freedom workers who took a trip to Mississippi and never returned.

We are aspirational. And that sets us apart. Others around the world have been influenced by our ideals.

It’s not who we are that’s great. It’s who we aspire to be that’s great.

John Chapman

Gladstone

No worries here

Regarding the headline on Page 13A in the Sunday Star, “With ICE raids looming, immigrants worry,” I submit the following observation: My spouse, who immigrated to the United States 32 years ago, is not worried. She came to this country legally.

Robert Devine

Excelsior Springs