The following open letter was first posted by me on Facebook.  I grew up with an Irish-Catholic New Deal Democrat father and a Swedish-Lutheran Pennsylvania Republican mom.  The fought early in their marriage, but it was never about politics, then or ever.  I grew up in a state, Pennsylvania, where there always seemed to be a healthy balance–progressive Republican governors and Democratic mayors of Pittsburgh and Philly, and generally a pair of senators that came from each party.  Years later, following the tragic deaths of two students my first year teaching in LA, the administration brought in a program from the Anti-defamation League that taught students and faculty a system of respectful discourse that allowed us to discuss almost any subject, with an agreement to opt out if things got too uncomfortable for anyone in the group.  Teaching history, often to enrich my English lit classes, I couldn’t help recalling that the 1850’s, when the Union almost disintegrated, were like today a time when discourse grew strident and compromise ceased…  So here goes–

To my conservative friends and family who supported Donald Trump:

When Iraqis who put their lives on the line for ten years (and spent two years waiting for a visa while they were thoroughly vetted) are arrested at JFK, we have lost our way. Trump’s actions will force pro-American people in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East to think again before they put their lives on the line helping American soldiers, diplomats, and journalists in the future.

All too similar to what happened in Southeast Asia in 1975, when we abandoned Hmong villagers who had fought bravely side-by-side with American advisors against Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese soldiers trying to take over Laos. We left the Hmong behind to hike for years through the mountain wilderness of Laos and Cambodia before finally finding refuge in Thailand. A few finally made it to the United States they loved and admired.