Our Common Humanity

Our Common Humanity..

“In Jesus Christ, there is no Mexican or black, no Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean or Filipino, no Russian or Italian, African or Salvadoran, no migrant or native-born,” the archbishop wrote, adding that human dignity must always be respected.

“The humanity of others is never negotiable. Men and women do not become less than human, less a child of God, because they are ‘undocumented.’ Yet, in our nation, it has become common to hear migrants talked about and treated as if they are somehow beneath caring about.”

Archbishop Gomez noted other instances of “white nationalism and domestic terrorism,” including the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, church bombings during the Jim Crow era, and the lynching of Mexicans in Texas in the 1920s.

“The myth that America was founded by and for white people is just that — a myth,” he wrote.

“This land was born as an encounter of cultures, first with Native Americans. Hispanics arrived in Texas in 1519. Asians started arriving in California about 50 years before the pilgrims made it to Plymouth Rock.”

Noting that Spanish was spoken in North America well before English was, Archbishop Gomez added that “this country has always been renewed, again and again, by successive waves of immigrants from every nation on earth.”

In response to racism, the archbishop said, Catholics “need to help our society to see our common humanity — that we are all children of God, meant to live together as brothers and sisters, no matter the color of our skin, the language we speak, or the place we were born.”

“The way we honor the lives taken at El Paso is to live with true Christian love — and to live for the vision of America that their killer denied,” Archbishop Gomez concluded.

“And let us implore our Blessed Mother to intercede for us, that we may build an America that is still a beacon of hope for peoples of every country, who look to this nation for refuge, for freedom and equality under God.”

(Archbishop Gomez)