To the editor:

Many Americans study and are fascinated by the field of genealogy.  Use of DNA tests, made available by companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com, indicates that ‘where did I come from?’ is a question lots of people have.  

The popular PBS series Finding Your Roots, hosted by noted professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., researches deeply and displays detailed family trees to participants. The reason for all this interest is pretty simple: except for Native Americans, all of our families, including the families of slaves, have roots elsewhere.  America is a country of immigrants, plain and simple.  

Now, however, we see from the Trump administration the vilification of immigrants and many steps, lawful and dubiously so, to prevent lawful immigration, including seekers of asylum.  (Recently, House Speaker Ryan attempted to raise the immigration quota for Ireland, a country with virtually no non-whites.)

The President appears to be stoking fear of the other, people who don’t look like him. This stance, is stupid and mean and is based on many falsehoods and exaggerations.  It also breaks from generations of Republican Party policy.  The GOP has historically been a pro-immigration party.

So, as we work to discover our roots and celebrate the foresight and bravery of our forbearers, we need to be mindful of this incredible disconnect between Trump’s thinking and our storied history and heritage as a nation of immigrants.  

Will Newman

Tiverton