Stories matter

To the Editor:

“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”

― Aldous Huxley

Former president Donald Trump demonizes undocumented immigrants and promises to deport millions if he is reelected.  He plans to build detention camps and to use the U.S. military.

Many undocumented workers can be found on our nation’s farms. In her Wisconsin Examiner article, “Getting past toxic partisanship: Dairy farmers and undocumented workers,” Ruth Conniff writes: 

“Dairy farmers in Wisconsin know that their immigrant workers aren’t replacing anybody. They’ve tried hard, without success, to find U.S.-born workers who want to shovel manure and milk cows every day starting at 4 a.m.”

Conniff explains that often “deep, personal relationships” develop between farmers and their Mexican workers. 

Will Trump round them up as well? According to Trump adviser Tom Homan, former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “People need to be deported. No one should be off the table.”

In its statement on “Labor and Immigration Reform,” the National Milk Producers Federation asserts, “Dairy farmers cannot lose their current workers without massive disruption to their farms and to rural economies.”

Chimamanda Adichie’s powerful TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” contends that “Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.”

This is what Donald Trump has done with his repeated and hateful rhetoric.  Most recently, Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, have denigrated thousands of Haitian immigrants who are living legally in Springfield, Ohio.

I am heartened to see the Catholic Bishops of Ohio speak out against this “unfounded gossip” and “scapegoating.”  The letter they have released states:  “Like all people, these Haitians should be afforded the respect and dignity that are theirs by right and allowed the ability to contribute to the common good.”

In these divisive times, it’s more important than ever to heed Adichie’s words: “Stories matter.  Many stories matter.  Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign.  But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.”

Terry Hansen

Milwaukee