I trained as an English teacher and in seminary as an ethicist. Our words must have meaning and correspond to our actions. Killing helpless people in a destroyed boat is a war crime or murder.
Making medical care unaffordable for millions to fund tax bonanzas for billionaires is fiscal lunacy and morally despicable. Calling whole populations of people “garbage” is racism, nativism and, increasingly, fascism.

The language of this administration mirrors 1930s Nazi language: the Jews were called garbage, cheats, criminals, exploiters, sexual predators, animals, non-Germans to be expelled and — after years of verbal and physical attacks — “not worthy of life.” Colored triangles in death camps identified Roma peoples, gays, political prisoners and religious non-cooperators like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

The Nazis dehumanized anyone who would not march or be silenced from fear. Our history is waves of immigrants; our community is now about 10% African. Our new neighbors are working, raising families, starting businesses, seeking educations, skillfully
employed and paying taxes.  

As a minister who is regularly in hospitals, rehab centers and nursing homes, I see our Somali neighbors working in all levels of skills, from housekeepers to food servers to nurses and physicians. One of my parishioners, a retired farmer, was cared for by a multilingual Somali nurse just completing his nurse practitioner certification. Immigrants grow our food, roof our homes, build our housing — and care for us in our medical facilities.

Words matter, and they matter a lot.

William Hiss
Lewiston