Today, a family member forwarded an e-mail message to me.

It started as this "Pied Piper"-esque story about ridding Phoenix of its pigeon problem. I was all set to read the punchline of the joke, until I realized it was about getting rid of all the Mexicans. To put it mildly, I was offended. Not because I'm Mexican (I'm not), but because to me, this kind of joke is the equivalent of telling a black person to go back to Africa, and smacks of "good ol' boy" mentality.



I've also received many e-mails of late detailing our "illegal immigration problem" and how it hurts us as American citizens and we shouldn't stand for it. To put it plainly, I'm tired of them (the emails, not the immigrants, legal or not). There are many perfectly legal Mexican American individuals living in this country, and I hate to see them profiled as illegal and such when they're not. Telling jokes and forwarding things like the messages I've mentioned lead to the propagation of negative stereotypes, to racist thought, and to the exclusion of wonderful people from our lives who otherwise might be a valuable addition to them.



Personally, I embrace a more inclusive worldview. Sure, I may pay an extra $5 or $10 in taxes that ends up supporting an illegal immigrant, but I don't mind that. I think about that person's children, their family, and the fact that my $5 or $10 is helping to put food on their table. I don't really care if their table is in the USA or not. Every child - every human being, for that matter - deserves humane treatment, to be fed, to be clothed, to be housed, to survive. What makes my child/family any better than that of the foreign worker who has fought his way into this country for a chance to provide that?

My hope for the world is that we find a way to love one another, without lines, without judgments, and instead choose to regard our fellow human being through the eyes of true egalitarian brotherhood and compassion.