Pullman is a growing community, and we should absolutely reaffirm our intent to be a welcoming and inclusive city.

Pullman is a diverse community with a significantly higher rate of transience and residential mobility, with about 49 percent of people reporting they don’t live in the same location they did a year ago, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

When the Pullman City Council met on May 16, local residents, activists and community leaders discussed the necessity of approving a welcoming resolution introduced by Councilmembers Nathan Weller and Ann Parks.

Elizabeth Siler, a specialist in English as a Second Language (ESL) in WSU’s English Department, shared her personal experience interacting with students from all walks of life. She also spoke at the council meeting May 16.

“I know students, both domestic and international, that report a sense of loneliness and alienation when they come here,” she said. “This resolution is essential.”

Unfortunately, there are individuals who feel this isn’t a statement that needs to be made, and attempted to argue a redundancy in passing this resolution.

Councilmember Al Sorenson is one of these individuals, and stated he believes the proposed welcoming resolution “is something that is beyond us as a city council.”

Some members of the community have also been concerned this resolution could jeopardize the $46 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration for the new 7,100 foot runway realignment project, estimated to be fully operational by 2019.

However, according to a response to an inquiry sent to the Immigration Legal Resource Center, simply designating a city as a welcoming city does not put any funding at risk.

Lena Graber from the center clarified that Attorney General Jeff Session’s memorandum explains only cities in “willful violation of 8 USC 1373 are considered sanctuary cities for the purposes of consideration when administering grants through the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security.”

She added that 8 USC 1373 is “a very narrow statute that governs communications about citizenship or immigration status with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE.”

This resolution can only be beneficial to the growing Pullman community, especially considering the airport being renovated will be servicing even more people from various backgrounds.

Let me be clear: Anyone who is not in favor of this resolution is showing complete disregard and lack of empathy toward individuals in the Pullman community who feel marginalized.

Those against the resolution may have forgotten about the arson fire that heavily damaged Pullman’s Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015, after which a regional terrorism task force was assigned to investigate.

They may have forgotten last September when 9th Legislative District Representative Mary Dye (R- Pomeroy) called the Pullman Islamic Center “one of the most dangerous mosques in America,” after which not a single city councilmember condemned the statement.

They seem to have also forgotten about the hateful fliers imploring students to report “illegal aliens” (their fellow students) that appeared on WSU’s campus Feb. 14, which The Spokesman-Review reported as appearing to have been disseminated by a white supremacist group.

They evidently also forgot the racist video that surfaced on social media last month, which depicted a heated argument between WSU students clad in Trump merchandise and several black women, and a still frame over the women with text saying “maybe you should go back to Africa.”

It is clear to me, and most, that this resolution is absolutely necessary to affirm our support and intent to be a welcoming and inclusive city.

The City Council entertained discussion and public comments at this meeting, but they did not vote or take any action, and will revisit the proposal.