One of the first things I learned in school when I was growing up was about the terrible mistakes we made in the 1930s and 1940s, because we were afraid of people who were different from us. I learned about the cruel and useless confinement of Japanese Americans in internment camps; about our failure to open our borders to Jews who were fleeing the Nazi Holocaust. We look back on those mistakes now as foolish and shameful. I never thought weโd be making those mistakes so soon again. I am ashamed today to see fear is being exploited to reinforce hatred and cruelty.
CELESTE HEMINGSON
Hopkinton