Welcome, Identity, Belonging

Abstract

In this article on being an immigrant, Winston D. Persaud invites the reader to consider how race, ethnicity, class, color, accent powerfully shape how we anticipate and experience being welcomed, who we are and become (identity), and our sense of belonging in the new country we call our home. Persaud includes personal stories which illustrate the vital need to speak the truth in love in the face of the existential expression of the debilitating power of internalized stereotypes. He centers his reflection Christologically by pointing the reader to God’s saving and healing love in Christ, who knew what it was to be “other.”