I am honored to be here today on the occasion of your fortieth anniversary... As you may know, we at Wainwright Bank share your commitment and your passion for social justice.

Boston has become home to tens of thousands of refugees and immigrants. These newcomers are a remarkably diverse group. Newcomers bring with them many talents, skills, energy, wisdom and a very different cultural memory. This cultural memory adds much to the fabric of the community. They cherish their own traditions, language, and values; yet they willingly embrace their adopted country's values and history. Newcomers require many channels into the mainstream of community life. They need leadership from within, and support and respect from without. Over the past forty years, El Centro has been providing both.

Unfortunately, some of these sentiments are not widely shared. The anti-immigrant wave that is sweeping public policy is, in the eyes of many who believe in social justice, an overt display of a continuing subtext of racism and xenophobia. Discussions of 'English as a Second Language' have associated with them, a thinly veiled veneer of bigotry and prejudice. Deep-seated fears about the loss of economic security in a global economy, about the loss of individual power, about accepting differences and diversity, and about the outcome of social change, are driving these policies.

In view of these issues, it is incumbent on members of the establishment to speak out and it is with this in mind that in early 1996, I wrote the following letter to the N.Y. Times and The Wall St. Journal. The letter speaks to the degree to which I had found the tone of the Buchanan presidential campaign to be particularly offensive. (I would like to read part of that letter.)

Diversity and the Buchanan Campaign

"In listening to the rhetoric of the Buchanan campaign I was struck by the oft repeated phrase "Listen Jose, you're not coming in!" Given the frustrations surrounding current immigration policy and the persistent desire of the campaign to scapegoat the Hispanic population, they may wish to expand their vocabulary of Hispanic names. Even when you are using a not so thinly veiled code, a little variety is useful. Here are some additional suggestions: Juan, Ramon, Alejandro, Luis, Manuel, Jorge, Arturo, Francisco, Armando, Fernando, Rafael, Ricardo, Alfonso, Carlos, Jesus, Lorenzo, and Ruben. The Buchanan Campaign might be interested in where these names can be found. Including Jose, they are repeatedly inscribed on a wall in Washington, D.C.: THE VIETNAM MEMORIAL...

Alongside of these names are countless thousands of African-Americans who would take serious issue with anyone who equated "We shall overcome" with "Dixie" as Mr. Buchanan recently did. The diversity that is America (if not the Buchanan campaign) is represented on that wall in that it also included gay men, Jewish men, and women. Although he did not participate in the military, I do not doubt that as a Nixon aide, Mr. Buchanan fervently supported the war. Therefore, since the campaign preaches old-fashioned patriotism, it seems especially egregious to scapegoat some of the very constituencies that disproportionately bore the burdens of that war. Social Justice may not currently have much campaign resonance, but it is a very important component of how one governs. It would be my hope responsible political voices would speak out against these thinly veiled codes and talk of social justice."

As you can see I feel it is important that we speak out on these issues and not retreat to our individual islands of self-interest. Social justice for all of us should extend from the Hispanic soldier on the Vietnam Wall to the smallest infant in day care at El Centro.

The attack on immigrants has had an unexpected by-product. It has coalesced immigrant communities, which are often unconnected and fragmented, into a coherent and increasingly powerful voice crossing lines of race, language, and ethnicity. It has brought forward the documentation of the extraordinary contributions made by immigrants to the benefit of society as a whole. Most importantly, it has created new coalitions across language and culture, including many white Americans who believe that a thriving democracy must welcome the vitality and hope that newcomers bring. The seventeen languages spoken at Wainwright Bank are a source of pride and celebration. Indeed there are some among us who while speaking only English, hear the strong cadences of social justice that resonate from other cultures.

On behalf of all of us at Wainwright Bank, congratulations to El Centro on forty years of contributions to social justice.

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