Denying sanctuary also denies a person’s worth

Everyone in North Carolina is entitled to live with dignity. Our communities should be our sanctuaries.

We live in a time when we’re constantly asking newly arrived immigrants: Are you worthy to be here? Or will you be a burden and threat to our society? Whether directly intended or not, this interrogation happens in a variation of this question: Where are you from? How did you get here? Or are you legal?

I came to North Carolina 36 years ago wanting to start a new life. I built a business that takes me around the world. I can truly say that I couldn’t have been successful without local, but also international business owners, employees and, yes, even low-wage employees who maintain the yard and clean the office.

My grandparents came to the U.S. from Syria and the Lebanon. They had their struggles but eventually made a life here, and no one who I speak to about their journey questions their American-ness because they contributed so much to this country.

I left New York many decades ago. I was tired of being asked: Do you have a girlfriend? When are you going to get married? And I was terrified of having to answer: Are you a queer?

Because I knew what queer meant back then – a depraved person, a sinner, a moral-less, disease-infested animal. We heard this narrative in the news, in church, in our communities. It was frightening to be found out.

Today, we hear a similarly hateful narrative about another marginalized population: undocumented immigrants – that they are lawless killers. The tragic murder of a few is used as the political narrative of the many to point out how dangerous all immigrants are. As I think back of how the LGBT have been talked about throughout history, I wonder, have we not learned anything about harmful and inaccurate stereotypes?

No human being is just a businessman, or an immigrant, or a gay individual.

Newcomers to our state, whether from Albany or a little village in Honduras, are assets. People come to live, work and build a life for themselves and their families. And there is plenty for all of us to share and grow together.

As our elected officials vote to ban “sanctuary cities,” I’d want them and their families to walk just for a day in the shoes of people who are here without papers. Let our officials experience what it is like to live in fear, be demonized and yet want to contribute to the American experience.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Denying sanctuary also denies a person’s worth."