There needs to be a distinction made between people fleeing their countries because of persecution and people leaving to seek economic opportunities. It is not fair to expect European countries or the U.S. to accept everyone who enters illegally regardless of reason. There are millions of poor people worldwide who would love to come to the West. Middle Easterners should not get special privileges just because they are close enough to sneak in.

And it is not racism to acknowledge the huge problem worldwide with Muslim extremism and terrorism. Radical Muslims are killing Christians, Jews, Hindus, gays, and other Muslims worldwide, destroying irreplaceable cultural treasures and raping women and little girls and selling them into sexual slavery. Europe has many areas now that are unsafe for non-Muslims. Radical Muslims in Europe do not agree with European ideals of equality, religious freedom, rights for women and gays, free speech, free press, etc. and leaders speak openly of forcing Sharia law on everyone. Through terrorist killings of journalists, radical Muslims have silenced criticism of Muslims in the European press and effectively destroyed free speech in Europe.

It is crucial that Syrian and other Middle Eastern refugees go through the same process that a Latino, an Asian, an African, or anyone else wanting to enter the West would go through. And we must check that none of them were part of terrorist organizations or hold ideas abhorrent to everything a free society holds dear. That’s not racism; that’s self-preservation and common sense.

Sharon Sernik

Merrimack