Recently, Sue, Rose and I were at a church event with an emphasis on missionary work. Part of the event included – as is often the case in the church world – a potluck meal. We were sitting at a table of eight or ten people, and somewhere in the course of the meal, and the issue of immigration came up. A young woman probably in her twenties, spoke up and said, “The Somalis are only coming here to take advantage of our welfare system. They don’t want to work.”
What?
Did this young lady – a white suburbanite who told us she was born and raised in the American Midwest- really think she could speak for an entire race of people? Had she met any Somalis? If so, had she met every Somali to immigrate to the United States? Unlikely.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no expert on Somalia or immigration in general. We do encounter many African immigrants and refugees (and there is a big difference between these two categories) when we go to the Root Cellar ministries in Portland and Lewiston and a few other local churches, but we don’t know any of them on a personal level.
Furthermore, people way smarter than I agree that the modern American immigration system needs reform. The left, right and center all agree on this point. How to bring reform is where they disagree. Perhaps because we live in Maine as opposed to California or Arizona, immigration reform is not an issue I’ve thought much about or have a strong opinion on. But I do know all those who are here legally, including Somalis, are individual people with a range of work ethic from the ambitious to the slothful.
The young woman at our table continued, “I worked for everything I have. When I graduated from high school, I was able to buy a $15,000 car.”
What?
OK, so she has the right to spend her own money her own way, and to some people a $15,000 car is a beater, not excessive, even for a high school kid. But the dollar figure rolled off of her tongue with such rehearsed ease and arrogance. I would have been less bothered if she had said, “When I graduated from high school I was able to buy a $10,000 car and still gave $5000 to Habitat for Humanity.” Perhaps she did, and just didn’t want to brag. Who knows (Well, besides God I mean.)
The irony of her whole statement is that we were at a missionary conference. Politics aside, economics aside, prejudices aside, God is bringing the mission field to us in ways He never has before. People from countries that are closed to the Gospel, or have strong factions and militias opposing the Gospel are coming here, where there are churches on every corner and Bibles in every book store and freedom of religion is built into our federal law.
The thing that angered- and saddened- me the most is that her bigotry is a poor reflection on the Savior who was the focus of the event we were at. The same Jesus who said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” The Jesus who surrounded himself with Greeks, Romans, and Jews alike. The Jesus whose cross was carried by an African. The Jesus who told His disciples to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and spoke of ‘every tribe and tongue’ being part of His eternal kingdom. There will not be any need for immigration reform there.