Incidentally, this letter reminds me of an incident that happened a few months ago. A friend of mine, but one who has absorbed the right-wing anti-immigrant nonsense from her family, was resentful about having to wait in line at a hospital behind some people who spoke only Spanish. I wondered if she would feel just as resentful if they were Swedish or German, like her parentage. Would she be so bitter and impatient if her white German-speaking great-grandfather was waiting in line ahead of her for treatment? Would she grumble about him learning English or using taxpayer-funded public resources? I think not.

BTW, I don’t think she’s really a racist, but, like many, she’s been confused by her family and other Fox News-viewers at work, as well as emails such as this one, into an emotional reaction to this immigration issue as the economy worsens — the attitude might be summed up as, ‘WTF! They are getting more than I am and I’m a hard-working citizen!’ (Of course, she had no way of knowing if the people in line ahead of her were citizens or not, nor if they were employed.) I don’t think she ever considered it logically or framed the situation using her own immigrant ancestors instead of Hispanics.