I am writing to express my deep pain over the printing of the letter by Merle Nelson in your April 27 edition [regarding immigrants]. I have suffered the judgments expressed in Nelson’s letter most of my life and I try to distance myself from that level of ignorance and prejudice.

What were you thinking when you chose to publish such a letter? What made you choose to give this level of anger and stereotyping a voice for all to see? Did you give any thought to the pain it would cause us to once again be exposed to people’s ignorance in such a public forum? Did you not realize that I would need to console my daughter who was in tears, trying to teach her once again the lesson all parents of color must teach their children, “This is not about you, my child, this is about Merle Nelson and a myopic view of the world. Yes, sweetheart, we are Americans too, not Johnny-come-latelys. I, too, do not understand why people make such judgments about us without knowing anything about us.”

Just when I think I can feel safe in my ethnicity in this community, you choose to print this toxic waste. You owe every Hispanic person in this community an apology. Nelson is cleary ignorant. What is your excuse? Maia Baeza Bangor Keynote speaker at Latin Heritage Celebration