Last night I shared an article titled "Colleges Cancelled Exams for Students Traumatized by Trump's Election - Lack of ideological diversity left campuses unprepared to cope with reality." And, as we would expect, many folks posted comments which were often derogatory toward the students. And, a young lady whom I consider family, was bothered by those comments. This is my response posted to her Facebook page:
A MESSAGE FROM THE HEART: On a post I made yesterday about college students traumatized by Donald Trump winning the election, you commented:
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So, let me respond and see if I can answer any of your doubts. I posted this response on my original post - but, because I care a lot, I want to post it here on your Facebook page so that I can be sure that you see it:
You are offended that I posted a pro-Trump post - feeling that I must be racist. Let me give you a wee bit of history. First, I grew up in Alabama in the 1940s/50s and even though segregation was rampant in Alabama at that time - I was never taught, nor did I ever hear, any prejudice in my home. True, at that time there were no Hispanics in my home town. The first Latinas I met were when I was in Air Force Basic Training in San Antonio, Texas - and I thought they had to be the most beautiful women in all the world.
Fast forward to the winter of 1955 and I was in Air Force Tech School in Denver. I met your great-grandmother, Betty, at the USO and was stricken. On March 3, 1956 we were wed - and I felt that I was the luckiest man in the world - for I had a beautiful Hispanic wife and three adorable Hispanic children - your grandmother, Leslie, being the youngest at 18 months.
A month later I was sent to Korea for a year - and when I returned, we were stationed in Austin, Texas. First, we went to my hometown in Alabama to visit my family and to let them all meet my new family. The movie "Giant" with Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean had just been released and Betty and I went to see it. The movie was about the prejudice against Mexicans in Texas - but, for some reason I still did not realize that was the condition in Texas then. After the movie, Betty and I were standing in front of the theater and a guy smiled and told me, "Better not let James Dean see her." But, before I could figure out if he was joking - he had already walked away. Still, it did not dawn on me that my family would face prejudice at my new Air Force assignment in Austin, Texas.
After our visit to Alabama, I went to Austin first to find a home for us. Betty and the girls followed in August. In my new neighborhood, there was a mix of older families, and young college age and Air Force couples. Our next door neighbors were two guys from Egypt, a college professor and a student.
Growing up in Alabama where all the prejudice was against black people, I was not prepared for the prejudice I experienced from my older neighbors in Texas. Mr. Potts and his family lived downstairs and immediately liked me, for I was a good Southern boy. Since I did not have a car - he volunteered to drive me to the train station to meet my family when they arrived. You should have seen his eyes when Betty, being Hispanic and with a good August tan, and my three girls came off the train. I thought he was going to have a heart attack.
He was cordial and drove us home - but, we found out very quickly that he would not allow his teenage daughter to babysit - because our children were "Mexican."
And, let me tell you - there is NO prejudice which hurts more than when your own family is the recipient of that prejudice. I could ignore it if the prejudice were against me. But, when it was against my wife and my children - that hurt deeply.
So, would I vote for, or support, a man for president who I thought was a racist and a bigot? NO WAY!
What Donald Trump has always said - and I agree with him - is that we have to stop the Illegal Immigrants from flooding into America across the Mexican border.
Would you feel safe if anyone who wanted to sneak into your home in the night - would be allowed to do that, and encouraged to do that, by our government? Of course you would not. America is our home - and we cannot allow people to sneak into our home, America, illegally. We must protect our borders.
And you might ask, "But how about the 12 million Illegals living here now?" That is a good point and I am sure that most of them are hard workers and good neighbors. BUT, they are still breaking the law by being here illegally.
How would you feel if you knew that many of your neighbors in your own community - were law breakers - some bank robbers, some drug dealers, some rapists and killers? No, I am NOT saying that all the Illegals are doing those things. But, ALL who are here illegally - ARE breaking our law by being here illegally. And, people who are breaking the law should be held accountable.
What are they to do? Go back to their home countries and enter America legally. But, you say, that could take a lot of time. That is true, but that is the only way to come into America legally and not have to be looking over your shoulder all the time.
My wife of 39 years, Dory, is from the Philippines. She came here as an immigrant because her Filipino husband was stationed at the Naval Academy. But she had to go through all the paperwork to get her green card - and then she had to study and pass a stringent test to become a naturalized American citizen. She did it the hard way, but she is now as much American as you and me. And, those who are willing to work for it can also become American citizens.
Donald Trump is not a racist and he does not want to punish people. But, first he must get his arms around a problem which Obama, et al, have created by looking the other way for 8 years, or more. There are many Illegals in America right now because of Obama's "look the other way" policies - and many of those, even you will have to admit, are undesirables. They are not all Hispanics. Many from the Middle East and other countries have used the "Obama fast-track" through our Obama created porous borders - to bring in their jihad cells and criminal activities. Those have to be weeded out. And the best way to weed an overgrown lawn - is to take a wide blade scythe and start clearing the whole field.
Yes, there will be some innocents caught up in the initial wide swaths of the scythe. But, that you can blame on Obama for allowing the field of Illegals to grow so rapidly in the first place. Trump must take drastic actions to clean up the mess - which Obama has allowed to grow in our American communities.
So, to summarize, NO, I am not a racist and neither is our new President-Elect. I suggest that you and I, and all Americans, take a deep breath - praise God that this election season is over - and work with our new president and his administration to make America a better place for all of us to live. And, to make America the "shining lamp of freedom on the mountain" (Matthew 5:15-16) for all people from around the world who want to come to America legally and make a better life for themselves and for their families.
I pray that I have explained the situation, as I see it, better for you. God bless, Bill
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After the dialogue above between us in my original post, another Friend not knowing her nor her background commented as though she is an Illegal Immigrant, which she is not. This is my dialogue with that well meaning Friend:
Dianne: There is a legal way to stay or come back into the U.S. as a citizen. . . No one handing it to you. No brainer, we want you to want us - not put your flag before ours. So what is this really about?
Bill Gray: Hi Dianne, Just to make sure there is no confusion - she, her mom, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother were all born in America to a great-great grandmother who had come from Mexico legally.
She is like many young college age people today - caught up in the Liberal teachings so rampant on all the public education campuses today. If we are to blame anyone - it is our secular society for the past 100 years which has created the Liberal professors and teachers we have today.
As long as our young people are only expressing their feelings and emotions - without all the rioting and destruction - it behooves we older folks to listen and to dialogue with them. We all can learn from one another - and make a better America. God bless, Bill
Dianne: Appreciated Bill. My point is we have law and a constitution. . . . All these kids have to do, to put fear and anxiety away - is to follow the law and constitution, and help their family become legal. Instead people ranting and being so disrespectful of our laws, is not the path to a solution.
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To all my Friends, I pray this dialogue can help all of us better understand both sides of this issue. Prejudice is ugly, regardless of the source - and we must work toward eliminating it in our homeland. Like cancer, the best we can hope to do with prejudice is to put it into long remission. And, that is a worthy goal for all of us to work toward.
I want to reiterate that I am sure that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not racists, they are not bigots, they do not hate any ethnic groups. They are patriotic Conservative Americans who, like most of us, want to eliminate those evils and make our American home a better place for all of us - natural born Americans, naturalized Americans, and all Legal Immigrants. Let's all commit ourselves to helping them accomplish this.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
A MESSAGE FROM THE HEART: On a post I made yesterday about college students traumatized by Donald Trump winning the election, you commented:
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"Wow, I am ashamed by all that I've read in this post. So let's get to the bottom of this! Some of our U.S. Universities and high schools postponed tests and classes due to the amount of FEAR the students feel for: family members, friends, and themselves - because of the OUTSTANDING amount of comments, lies, actions, (and so much more) that Donald Trump has said and done.
I am a Mexican American woman, and YES I am extremely offended and scared for, not only my sake, but the sake of so many people who fall at risk of such racist and ignorant comments that a man, who is will soon be the president of the United states, has announced."
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So, let me respond and see if I can answer any of your doubts. I posted this response on my original post - but, because I care a lot, I want to post it here on your Facebook page so that I can be sure that you see it:
You are offended that I posted a pro-Trump post - feeling that I must be racist. Let me give you a wee bit of history. First, I grew up in Alabama in the 1940s/50s and even though segregation was rampant in Alabama at that time - I was never taught, nor did I ever hear, any prejudice in my home. True, at that time there were no Hispanics in my home town. The first Latinas I met were when I was in Air Force Basic Training in San Antonio, Texas - and I thought they had to be the most beautiful women in all the world.
Fast forward to the winter of 1955 and I was in Air Force Tech School in Denver. I met your great-grandmother, Betty, at the USO and was stricken. On March 3, 1956 we were wed - and I felt that I was the luckiest man in the world - for I had a beautiful Hispanic wife and three adorable Hispanic children - your grandmother, Leslie, being the youngest at 18 months.
A month later I was sent to Korea for a year - and when I returned, we were stationed in Austin, Texas. First, we went to my hometown in Alabama to visit my family and to let them all meet my new family. The movie "Giant" with Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean had just been released and Betty and I went to see it. The movie was about the prejudice against Mexicans in Texas - but, for some reason I still did not realize that was the condition in Texas then. After the movie, Betty and I were standing in front of the theater and a guy smiled and told me, "Better not let James Dean see her." But, before I could figure out if he was joking - he had already walked away. Still, it did not dawn on me that my family would face prejudice at my new Air Force assignment in Austin, Texas.
After our visit to Alabama, I went to Austin first to find a home for us. Betty and the girls followed in August. In my new neighborhood, there was a mix of older families, and young college age and Air Force couples. Our next door neighbors were two guys from Egypt, a college professor and a student.
Growing up in Alabama where all the prejudice was against black people, I was not prepared for the prejudice I experienced from my older neighbors in Texas. Mr. Potts and his family lived downstairs and immediately liked me, for I was a good Southern boy. Since I did not have a car - he volunteered to drive me to the train station to meet my family when they arrived. You should have seen his eyes when Betty, being Hispanic and with a good August tan, and my three girls came off the train. I thought he was going to have a heart attack.
He was cordial and drove us home - but, we found out very quickly that he would not allow his teenage daughter to babysit - because our children were "Mexican."
And, let me tell you - there is NO prejudice which hurts more than when your own family is the recipient of that prejudice. I could ignore it if the prejudice were against me. But, when it was against my wife and my children - that hurt deeply.
So, would I vote for, or support, a man for president who I thought was a racist and a bigot? NO WAY!
What Donald Trump has always said - and I agree with him - is that we have to stop the Illegal Immigrants from flooding into America across the Mexican border.
Would you feel safe if anyone who wanted to sneak into your home in the night - would be allowed to do that, and encouraged to do that, by our government? Of course you would not. America is our home - and we cannot allow people to sneak into our home, America, illegally. We must protect our borders.
And you might ask, "But how about the 12 million Illegals living here now?" That is a good point and I am sure that most of them are hard workers and good neighbors. BUT, they are still breaking the law by being here illegally.
How would you feel if you knew that many of your neighbors in your own community - were law breakers - some bank robbers, some drug dealers, some rapists and killers? No, I am NOT saying that all the Illegals are doing those things. But, ALL who are here illegally - ARE breaking our law by being here illegally. And, people who are breaking the law should be held accountable.
What are they to do? Go back to their home countries and enter America legally. But, you say, that could take a lot of time. That is true, but that is the only way to come into America legally and not have to be looking over your shoulder all the time.
My wife of 39 years, Dory, is from the Philippines. She came here as an immigrant because her Filipino husband was stationed at the Naval Academy. But she had to go through all the paperwork to get her green card - and then she had to study and pass a stringent test to become a naturalized American citizen. She did it the hard way, but she is now as much American as you and me. And, those who are willing to work for it can also become American citizens.
Donald Trump is not a racist and he does not want to punish people. But, first he must get his arms around a problem which Obama, et al, have created by looking the other way for 8 years, or more. There are many Illegals in America right now because of Obama's "look the other way" policies - and many of those, even you will have to admit, are undesirables. They are not all Hispanics. Many from the Middle East and other countries have used the "Obama fast-track" through our Obama created porous borders - to bring in their jihad cells and criminal activities. Those have to be weeded out. And the best way to weed an overgrown lawn - is to take a wide blade scythe and start clearing the whole field.
Yes, there will be some innocents caught up in the initial wide swaths of the scythe. But, that you can blame on Obama for allowing the field of Illegals to grow so rapidly in the first place. Trump must take drastic actions to clean up the mess - which Obama has allowed to grow in our American communities.
So, to summarize, NO, I am not a racist and neither is our new President-Elect. I suggest that you and I, and all Americans, take a deep breath - praise God that this election season is over - and work with our new president and his administration to make America a better place for all of us to live. And, to make America the "shining lamp of freedom on the mountain" (Matthew 5:15-16) for all people from around the world who want to come to America legally and make a better life for themselves and for their families.
I pray that I have explained the situation, as I see it, better for you. God bless, Bill
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After the dialogue above between us in my original post, another Friend not knowing her nor her background commented as though she is an Illegal Immigrant, which she is not. This is my dialogue with that well meaning Friend:
Dianne: There is a legal way to stay or come back into the U.S. as a citizen. . . No one handing it to you. No brainer, we want you to want us - not put your flag before ours. So what is this really about?
Bill Gray: Hi Dianne, Just to make sure there is no confusion - she, her mom, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother were all born in America to a great-great grandmother who had come from Mexico legally.
She is like many young college age people today - caught up in the Liberal teachings so rampant on all the public education campuses today. If we are to blame anyone - it is our secular society for the past 100 years which has created the Liberal professors and teachers we have today.
As long as our young people are only expressing their feelings and emotions - without all the rioting and destruction - it behooves we older folks to listen and to dialogue with them. We all can learn from one another - and make a better America. God bless, Bill
Dianne: Appreciated Bill. My point is we have law and a constitution. . . . All these kids have to do, to put fear and anxiety away - is to follow the law and constitution, and help their family become legal. Instead people ranting and being so disrespectful of our laws, is not the path to a solution.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
To all my Friends, I pray this dialogue can help all of us better understand both sides of this issue. Prejudice is ugly, regardless of the source - and we must work toward eliminating it in our homeland. Like cancer, the best we can hope to do with prejudice is to put it into long remission. And, that is a worthy goal for all of us to work toward.
I want to reiterate that I am sure that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not racists, they are not bigots, they do not hate any ethnic groups. They are patriotic Conservative Americans who, like most of us, want to eliminate those evils and make our American home a better place for all of us - natural born Americans, naturalized Americans, and all Legal Immigrants. Let's all commit ourselves to helping them accomplish this.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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