To the editor:

“Them.”

They are not like us.

It’s us against “them” because, it’s said, they don’t share our beliefs, our values and certainly can’t be trusted.

“Them.” It’s a time-honored slur so common in our everyday language that it hides in plain sight, exacting its toll on those who rarely get a chance to answer their accusers. Unfortunately, the damage this innocuous sounding word inflicts can be as vicious as a knife in the back. When we tar people with the term “them,” we willfully ignore their individual humanity so that we can ascribe to “them” our worst and often unfounded fears. And by doing so, we make it much easier on our conscience to do unconscionable things, like overlook “them” when they are in need, put “them” in jail, or kill “them” in war.

We have all heard the warnings about “them.”

“Them” who want to indoctrinate our children. “Them” who want to destroy our freedoms. “Them” who want to take our jobs. And now here in Lawrence we’re warned about the “them” who have been shaped into hobgoblins of our worst fears because they ask for change and need a place to sleep — in other words, because they are poor.

Fortunately, “them’s” fraudulent assumptions are undone by the experience of getting to know the very people vilified in the name of “them.” When we meet people face to face, the disembodied and nameless “them” become individuals — real people with families, dreams and difficulties — like us.