Letters

“We the People … All men are created equal … with liberty and justice for all …” “shining city upon a hill” — these are words that have represented the United States as a global symbol of freedom, democracy and prosperity. These words have helped us aspire to American exceptionalism.

Our country’s history of civil rights injustices and abuses, such as slavery, Japanese American internment and treatment of Native Americans, shows that we haven’t always been able to maintain our exceptionalism. Each generation of Americans must earn anew any claim to be a symbol of the thrust of humankind to a just and humane world. It is our generation’s responsibility to aspire to be the shining city and restore our once-worthy claim to exceptionalism.

Now we are faced with masked federal agents, sometimes described as Gestapo-like police, on our streets, snatching people up, and taking them God only knows where, without due process. In Chicago, a 1-year-old baby was pepper-sprayed in the face by an ICE agent. Our neighbors and friends live in a constant state of fear that they may be targeted simply based on their appearance. And they endure the hatred of total strangers, who cheer on the these masked and armed ICE agents. This is not exceptionalism — it is America at its worst.

No one should be terrorized on their way to work or school. No child should have to wonder if their parents will be taken away in an ICE sweep, never to be seen again. These actions don’t make us safer — they make us smaller, and put us in danger of losing our rights and freedoms.

Federal judges, Catholic bishops, local officials, human rights organizations, community members and a former ICE director are speaking out against these shocking activities by our government.

Now it is the turn of our own officials to be speaking out against these disturbing actions that endanger us all. At a recent Southampton Town Board meeting, many residents spoke up and asked the Town Board to support the people being targeted [“Protests Over ICE Detentions Continue To Ripple Across South Fork,” 27east.com, November 15]. All of us should be fighting this fight, because it’s the right thing to do, and doing nothing is unacceptable. The more we allow these government sanctioned behaviors from ICE, the more we erode the basic ideals that have made America exceptional.

Brigid Maher

Hampton Bays