We like to think of our home communities as great places to live. In fact, at Defiance’s city edge, a big sign announces: A Great Place to Live!
We know that quality of life depends on the community we are a part of. Community is the source of trust that we have in others. Community is the people we come to depend on. Community is where our friendships are made, our families form and our children raised. When community works, it’s not because of our sameness.
In fact, in northwest Ohio, we’re all different: a community of immigrants. Two immigration waves made it into and became our northwest Ohio communities.
In the first, in the 19th-early 20th centuries, came the French, Germans, Irish, Syrians, Lebanese and freed slaves — all once strangers to one another. After 1945, a second wave brought Mexicans and Central Americans and more African Americans.
Across our many backgrounds, either care and understanding grew, or there was no community. With the present political culture of division and blame, will our communities survive?
Mass deportations of our Hispanic and brown-skinned neighbors destroy communities, taking generations to build. It starts with dehumanization. Rather than attempting to understand our neighbors we are told they are invading us, taking our jobs, driving up housing costs and endangering our families.
Understanding informs us differently: undocumented immigrants are fleeing severe economic or political oppression. Rather than a drain on our economy, Yale economist Ernie Tedeschi’s finds undocumented and documented immigrants alike are main drivers in a post-pandemic U.S. economic recovery. “Undocumented” immigrants’ crime rates are lower, not higher, than native-born citizens.
Mass deportation tirades and government mobilizations spread confusion, mistrust and misunderstandings — the very stuff that destroys community.
With the goal of building understanding, the Defiance County Democratic Party is sponsoring a community-wide education program for finding common ground with our immigrant neighbors, “A Community of Immigrants: Worlds Together, Worlds Apart.”
The moderator and guest panelists will lead a community-wide conversation about our common values. Discussion will center on honoring established norms, clarifying the law and inspiring us to embrace the responsibilities of living in a diverse community.
The event is free and open to the public and will be held at the Stroede Center for the Arts, 319 Wayne Ave., Defiance, on March 27 from 7-8:30 p.m.
Building a vibrant community requires understanding. Join us and learn.
Ed Singer
rural Defiance
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