Get out of my face, I don’t want you around here. Do not darken the door of my country.
Such knee-jerk reactions have flourished throughout history.
Xenophobia, the fear of someone different, exists politically and socially and continues without consideration of what may be lost in the process.
Presently the rising tide of voices demand that officials refuse any immigrants from the Middle East, particularly immigrants from the home countries of headline-grabbing terrorists. Fresh attacks validate the concern. To address that concern, the United States immigration officers scrutinize every applicant in a process that takes months.
That vetting process fails to suffice for those who insist that absolutely no more immigrants enter their corner of the world. Fear shrouds most with an Arabic and/or Muslim background. And yet through the decades, Michigan has welcomed this culture until the largest Muslim population in the United States lives in the greater Detroit area.
Fortunately, for Flint, Mich., years ago a couple of immigrants from Iraq came to the USA. Without them, the story of the current lead poisoning crisis with the city water of Flint would not have been exposed.
The first whistle blowers were parents carrying bottles of brown colored water to city hall meetings protesting its taste and looks. Independent water testing by Virginia Tech researchers found lead in the water. When Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician at the Hurley Medical Clinic, heard about the lead, she began studying children for lead in their bodies.
“We routinely screened children for lead and what we were seeing when we looked back at our numbers was that the percentage of kids with elevated levels doubled in the whole city and in some neighborhoods it tripled.”
She skipped a lengthy medical research project. She held a press conference to warn the families and incurred the wrath of city officials who insisted the water was safe. Hanna-Attisha did not back down. The facts and figures and ongoing medical symptoms of adults and children forced the city’s leadership to admit the problem. The reality of the lead-poisoned water grabbed national headlines and responses from Michigan’s governor Rick Snyder and President Barack Obama.
It will be years before the damage to today’s young children is fully known. The one hopeful point is that pediatrician Hanna-Attisha did not wait for a lengthy scientific study, peer review and approval before she said, “Stop.” As a parent of two, she identified with the parents and endured the public put-downs. She held her ground until those in power admitted the facts and began addressing the crisis.
Citizens and parents spoke their concerns. Hanna-Attisha’s research validated their concerns and potential future problems.
Hanna-Attisha’s presence in Flint provided the voice, experience, training and concern of a pediatrician and mother needed to break down the walls of denial from the city leadership. Her impact on the community, the lives she saved, belies those who would say “no more Mid-Eastern immigrants.” She made a positive difference in Flint.
Without her determination to assess the blood tests on her young, vulnerable patients, who knows how much longer families would still be drinking lead-contaminated water? This daughter of Arabic speaking immigrants spoke up and helped stop a travesty.
Saying, “stay away, we don’t want your kind here,” aims to eliminate the presence of specific people viewed as dangerous. A blanket refusal of entrance does not necessarily protect a community from harm. Sometimes the harm comes with the refusal to allow a stranger to join a community – a stranger who may come with unique skills and abilities to address problems.
The person unwanted today, may be the person greatly needed tomorrow. Certainly ask questions to assess safety before letting the immigrant into the country. Just don’t slam the door, lock it and throw away the key without considering that the next Hanna-Attisha may be just outside the door when she is most needed inside the house.
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— Joan Hershberger is a staff writer for the El Dorado News-Times. She can be reached at joanh@everybody.org