To the editor:

The debate roiling the country about immigration is full of passion but not much heart. The immigrant is an abstraction, a being who is not like us, not like the ones to whom the country belongs. But justice demands heart, demands that we acknowledge our equal humanity. Our Declaration is not that all Americans are created equal and endowed with rights; our Declaration is that all humans are equally created and endowed with rights.

The demand that all would-be immigrants line up nicely and in order and wait their turn neglects two realities: Many undocumented residents were brought here as children and have no other country than America, and others have come here fleeing desperate, Holocaust-like injustice. Getting to know them and to understand them as humans helps us perceive them with our hearts and prepares us for new and better thinking about immigration.

To that end, Adirondack Voters for Change is bringing two films and two people to the North Country. The first is “Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America.” It’s a documentary about Moises Serrano, whose parents brought him into America as an infant and who grew up in rural North Carolina. The film shows us Moises’ emergence as a voice for both justice and humanity and his acceptance into Sarah Lawrence College, from which he just graduated this year. Mr. Serrano is coming to Saranac Lake and Plattsburgh to address questions after we view the film. This is a chance for all of us to grow in our understanding of those who are sometimes called “The Dreamers.” The film and Mr. Serrano will be in Saranac Lake on Monday evening, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. at the Pendragon Theatre.

Having seen the film, I commend it to everyone.

More information about our second film — “I am Rohingya” and its creator (coming to Saranac Lake on Oct. 20) — will follow shortly. 

Rev. Jeff Black

Saranac Lake