When our sons were children, a part of their afternoons included spending time with “Mr. Roger’s’ Neighborhood,” viewed on our local Public Broadcasting Station (PBS). What remains in my memory (and I hope remains in the memories of our sons) is the gentleness and kindness reflected in the voice and mannerisms of Fred Rogers and the message that “everyone is our neighbor.”
“Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” episodes always began with its theme song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” written by Fred Rogers and Yosetta Evan Shoshan in 1967. Opening lyrics are: “It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Won’t you be mine? Could you be mine?” (http://www.proweb.musixmatch. com ).
In a documentary about Fred Rogers and his PBS children’s program, producer Morgan Neville said of the theme song “…that it is…an inclusive song, integral to the fabric of the show, compassion, togetherness, and openness to grow and change” (Jacob Vitti, September 13, 2021, http://www.americansongwriter. com) . Fred Rogers spent his television career teaching all of us the importance of being a good neighbor and dared to stretch the perimeter to include everyone. He answered the question, “Who is my neighbor.”
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ also answered this question. In the gospel of Luke,a Pharisee, an expert in the Judaic law, asked Jesus this exact question, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-37 NIV, http://www.biblegateway. com). Jesus replied with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The story narrates that a priest and a Levite walked past a dying robbery victim. But when a Samaritan saw the wounded man, he stopped to check on him. He then cleaned and bandaged the injuries, took the beating victim to an inn, and paid for his remaining stay and care.
Jesus ended the parable with a question, “Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The Pharisee replied, “The man who had mercy on him” (Luke 10:3637 NIV, http://www.youversion. org ).
The priest’s answer must have been difficult for him to admit. For centuries, the Jews had seen Samaritans as racially impure and certainly worthy of nothing but disdain. And certainly not mercy (“Hatred Between Jews and Samaritans,” http://www. bible.org ).
If Fred Rogers and Jesus the Christ agree that everyone is our neighbor, then why is our federal government illegally arresting and detaining our neighbors, our fellow human beings?
The U.S. government has often strayed from being “a good neighbor.” The United States Army, in 1890, led a massacre of 150 Native Americans (Lakota)) at Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota (History.com editors. “U.S. Army Massacres Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee,” updated May 27, 2025, http://www.historychannel. com).
Relying on misinformation about the Lakota’s reviving a cultural practice of the Ghost Dance, reservation authorities tried unsuccessfully to arrest Lakota Chief Sitting Bull Hunkpapa on December 15, 1890. The Ghost Dancers were seen as a threat to reservation law and order. On December 29, the U.S. Army, 7th Cavalry, surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers and Lakota Chief Big Foot Spotted Elk near Wounded Knee Creek. The Cavalry demanded surrender.
Accounts say that one soldier fired his gun, hitting a Native. What ensued was a massacre of 100 to 300 Native Americans. Half of this death toll were women and children. Some historians theorize that this was the U.S. government’s revenge for their defeat at Little Big Horn in 1876 (Christopher Klein, “What Happened at Wounded Knee,” http:// historychannel.com).
Why? Misinformation and bigotry.
Just after World War I, in the eighteen hours from May 31 to June 1, 1921, the Black Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was destroyed by a white mob. Rumors of a Black young man attacking a white woman began the melee. The truth was that the young man stumbled into the woman while they were riding an elevator.
This was one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history. According to the Red Cross, 1,256 Black-owned homes were burned. A neighborhood school, a library, a hospital, churches, hotels, and businesses were decimated. Six thousand Black Tulsans were unlawfully imprisoned under armed guard at the Tulsa Fairgrounds.
Historians estimated the death toll of African Americans to be as high as 300 (History.com editors, “1921 Tulsa Race Massacre,” http://www.historychannel. com ).
Why? Bigotry and misinformation.
During the World War II conflict with Imperial Japan, the United States government forcibly incarcerated more than 110,000 American Japanese in concentration camps spread across this country. One of the ten concentration camps was Manzanar, now a national historic site in the Sierra Nevada mountains 200 miles from Los Angeles, CA. This prison held 10,000 Americans. The crowded barracks, food scarcity, barbed wire confinement, search lights, and armed military police patrols meet the definition of a concentration camp (Victoria Namkung, “Manzanar Teaches About Japanese American Incarceration in the United States That’s in Jeopardy Under Trump,” THE GUARDIAN, June 26, 2016, http://www.theguatdian.com ).
Why? Bigotry and misinformation.
During the 100 years between 1815-1915, 30 million European immigrants came to the United States seeking opportunities for a livelihood for themselves and for their families. Just as any group of immigrants arriving in this country, they were fleeing economic hardship, religious persecution, and political insecurity (Charles A. Wills, “Destination America,” http://www. pbs.org ). Here they too experienced stereotyping and discrimination. Irish, Italians, Germans, and other European nationalities were paid less in wages than “American “workers and experienced social tensions (“Immigration to the United States, 18511900,” http://www.loc.gov ).
Why? Bigotry and misinformation. Why do we Caucasians have such short memories? Our ancestors were immigrants too.
Currently our country is in a state of chaos and unrest fueled by bigotry and misinformation. Perhaps the most distressing is the illegal, unconstitutional raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE). “Suspected” Hispanic immigrants are accosted without arrest warrants and lawful due process (Erica Bryan, “What Due Process Means for Immigrants? Why Is It Important?” June 4, 2025, http://www.vera.org ).
The U.S. Constitution grants due process to citizens and to non-citizens equally who are on U.S. soil. We have the right to fair treatment under the law, guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Those detained must be given notice and the opportunity to “state their case” in a court of law. The arresting entities must prove probable cause (Bryant).
“Alligator Alcatraz” has been built at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. This detention camp was built to imprison 3,000 to 5,000 immigrants. Florida State Representatives and members of the U.S. Congress were allowed a limited tour of the facilities. During their abbreviated tour, they saw hundreds confined in cages plagued by heat, bugs, and meager meals. Florida State Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz reported learning of thirty-two prisoners being housed per cage. As of June, 58,000 immigrants are in ICE custody in scattered locations (Chelsea Bailey, Isabel Rosales, and Alan Elasser, “’Alligator Alcatraz’: What to Know About Florida’s Controversial Migrant Detention Facility,” July 13, 2025, http://www.cnn. com ).
Why? Bigotry and misinformation.
Based on respected research and facts, immigrants (many of whom are black or brown) are 30% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born people who are white. Research by Ran Abramitzy found that “…first generation immigrants have not been more likely to be imprisoned than people born in the U.S. since 1880” (Krystal Crawford, “The Mythical Tie Between Immigration and Crime,” Stanford Institute for Policy Research, July 21, 2023, http://www.siepr. stanford.edu ).
Europeans have been and still are our neighbors. Native Americans allowed the rest of us to be their neighbors and have been rewarded with violence. African Americans finally became our neighbors after serving as slaves, enduring a bloody Civil War, and surviving hundreds of years of human degradation. Asian Americans are our neighbors, although many have been unlawfully imprisoned in concentration camps.
Everyone is our neighbor. As God’s creatures, we share the same dreams and desires. How then should we now “be neighborly”? Ending the unlawful ICE raids would be a start. We can be respectful of all cultures and beliefs. Be kind. Be helpful. Be merciful. Be gracious. Be a Fred Rogers. (We can’t possibly be Jesus.)
“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?” (http://www.prowebmizmatch. com ).