I think I was the only person in my family who was not overtly racist. Even after I left home, I knew I could be better, and I keep trying to be a better person. My husband and I hosted 6 exchange students, were liaisons for numerous host families and students and mentored 12 international college students from 1995 to about 2016. Becoming involved with and attached to the students we met gave us some of the best relationships we've had in our lives. On top of the one on one friendships we formed, we also got to know the natural families of the students, and local families who supported the exchange programs and made their own relationships with students hosted in our area. The bonds we formed have held up over the years.
It makes me angry that the people I met over the years, who fell in love with the U.S.A. and also the people they met are being treated like crap. Some of the students we met have legally made the U.S. their home, but I bet nothing they've done, either to be here legally or the contributions they've made since they arrived, matters to the criminals demeaning the human connections that so many of us made with people from other countries. I won't stop being how I am, but I haven't discovered how to turn the tide.
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