Why does it seem like everybody wants to come to America? Well, the reason, it turns out, is that we keep inviting people by telling everyone that in our country, you get to live the American dream. Read the words that appear on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

Wow. Are there any more powerful words of invitation to America? Actually yes, there are. The first words used to describe what it means to live the American dream are these:  

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. 

That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Diversity, you see, is the first American promise. That makes diversity the American value.  A place where all are created equal — that really is a place anyone and everyone would want to live. Just this semester, in a reaction paper for my interpersonal relationships and race course, one of my students wrote:

“There are many that think that Latinos/Hispanics come here just for the ‘free health care’ and to take advantage of the government such as asking for food stamps or other benefits.  They do not stop to think that people who come to the U.S. come in hopes to find a better opportunity for themselves and for their children as well. There are many who work extremely hard to get what they need and want.”

My last name, Nacoste, is pronounced by the “Who dat?” Louisiana bayou Creoles and Cajuns as “Nah-cosse.” I am a great grandson of immigrants from the French-Caribbean. I am also a black man.  And though America offers up an incredible opportunity, an incredible dream, America has not always lived up to the dream we say it offers.  

“We hold these truths to be self-evident …” You see, for a long time in America, the whole country said that those words did not apply to someone with my dark skin color. That racial segregation and oppression did something very important though. It made it clear who was “we” and who was a “they.”

With those immoral laws gone, we now live in a time when interacting with someone who does not look like or sound like us is unavoidable.  Now we struggle with neo-diversity anxiety that is causing some of us to want to keep other people living in America in the category of “they” and “them.”  

Right now, we are aiming our neo-diversity anxiety at immigrants. These days, Americans – including students on this campus – are aiming their anxiety and hostility at anyone who might be an immigrant, such as people who are Mexican, Muslim, Middle Eastern, Caribbean — anybody with an accent.  

But the truth is this: Another student’s documentation is not an issue for you – the individual – to address in your interpersonal interactions with another person. Yes, there are problems to be solved around the issue of immigration. But those are not problems that are solved by our feeling hostile to someone who might be a documented or undocumented immigrant. 

The problems are policy problems that our lawmakers and politicians are working to solve. Feeling and acting on unfounded hostility toward fellow students is beyond inappropriate.  

Everybody on our campus is Wolf … Pack. Everybody on our campus is doing the same thing. We are all working on creating our version, our family’s version, of the American dream. Let’s respect that — let’s respect all of the students on our campus.