When returning from an overseas trip in January, I was delayed by a snowstorm in JFK Airport. During my nine hours there, I was struck by the number of employees who were people of color, who had foreign sounding names or who spoke with an accent. These were people who worked for the airlines, were airport security or maintenance workers, and who ran the shops and restaurants. Caucasian employees with Anglo-Saxon names were in the distinct minority. The immigration agent who stamped my passport upon reentry to this country had a surname of “Choo.”

Recently, I was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Florida where I spent 30 hours undergoing tests. Every doctor with whom I was in personal contact was an immigrant who spoke English with an accent. Most of the technicians and nurses who tested and took care of me had Hispanic names. When I received my records, I noticed that every doctor who reviewed my many tests had names that were clearly foreign.

It is obvious to me that it would have been impossible for the airport and that Florida hospital to operate successfully and give me the high level of service that I received without the excellent service and care provided by immigrants and people of color.

Immigrants and people of color have been helping to make this country great since its birth. America has never ceased being “great,” but we need everyone to keep it great.

Jeffrey Sturgis, Minot