Letter: Anti-Mexican feelings disturb letter writer

I am writing this in response to the town hall article and Mr. Halstead’s comments last week. First, I would like to say to Mr. Halstead, thank you! It is such a relief to hear that I am not the only one who isn’t anti-Mexican/anti-Spanish. What you stated about Mr. Turner’s comments on Wal-Mart was exactly what I was thinking and couldn’t have said it better. When I was a little girl I thought that if someone could speak another language other than English, they were literally a genius. It saddens me that people in America put shame on knowing, speaking or learning another language. In Canada, they have two official languages, French being their primary one. Why do Americans think that they are above speaking another language or having their children learn one? Does learning another language not make you smarter? Yes, I understand that they are here in America and they need to speak it, but let me ask this, If you (Mr. Turner and fellow Meekerites) had to move to another country, even if you spoke that language, wouldn’t you like to hear a TV show or read a newspaper that was in English? It is what you know, your native language. Mr. Turner, I have three children 8, 3 and 1. My older son wants to learn Spanish, my middle can understand a few words, and my baby can speak some. Can you say that when your children were 1 that they spoke two languages? Besides, Mr. Turner, if you do not like Spanish, let’s ask some of these good ol’ boys in Meeker why they hire Mexicans to do all their hard work on their ranches, and why they don’t hire an English-only person? You also stated that something was up. What, may I ask exactly, is up? I can assure you that Mexicans are not in a conspiracy to overtake our country. Also, since this meeting took on a religious tone, can anyone tell me where in the Bible does it state that our Heavenly Father made the border between us and Mexico? Is it not a commandment to love thy neighbor? I highly doubt that Jesus would approve of the way his fellow “Christians” treat Mexicans. In fact, it is exactly the opposite of what Jesus would do. I would like to end my letter with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr: “I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions. This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream — a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man’s skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.”
Jackie Bean-Barreno
Meeker