WITH OUT PAPERS

My brother Norman and I were discussing the "PAPERS, PLEASE" abomination of a law in Arizona and Norman asked, "Do you remember the derivation of the word WOP?"

I told him that I didn't recall, and he said that WOP stood for "WITH OUT PAPERS".

Many immigrants, including our family, have endured derogatory ethnic terms, whether it was KIKE, HEBE, MICK, DAGO, FROG, BOHUNK, SPIC and WETBACK.

As the French say: "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose": "the more things change, the more they stay the same".

Recently, I was pleased that several younger people told me that they had never heard these derogatory ethnic terms. Maybe there is hope for change in the future!