I am a Hadley resident who is happy to welcome to our town, the migrant and other families who are staying at the Knights Inn emergency shelter. I am proud of and grateful for the work our school superintendent and the task force have done to respond. Our town needs to do its part in the state’s effort to address the needs of migrant families who are arriving in Massachusetts. This means giving up a “not in my backyard” way of thinking. The views expressed by some Hadley residents at a recent Select Board meeting are not my views. There is nothing unsafe about families who come to our country actually seeking safety and a better life. Many of us, including my family, are only living here in Hadley because our great grandparents came here seeking the very same thing. These may be different times and circumstances, but it is the same longings and desires that bring people to our country and now to our town.
Whatever our views on changes necessary in immigration policy, we need to look at the people in front of us here and now, and do the right thing. It is also worth mentioning that many of us sit in Hadley’s Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church and First Congregational Church week after week and know the following passage so well, we can recite the ending by heart. “Lord, when did we see you a stranger and not welcome you … ” This passage is not for some other situation, in some other place, at some other time. It applies exactly to this.
Christine Zaskey Cullen
Hadley
