Verses 14 through 16 in Matthew 5 follow Jesus’ proclamation of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden,” it begins. “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
A beacon can be both a guide and a warning to those whose ships might otherwise crash against the shores. The “city on a hill” is one-part aspiration and one-part outright myth: American ideals could and should be a global beacon of the value of a diverse and open society. In practice, particularly of late, it has also spotlighted the damage that can be done by a superpower which exports racism and violence and simultaneously inflicts that on immigrants and foreign students who arrive at its borders.
One of the most recent examples was the Trump administration’s Monday directive to cancel the student visas of foreign nationals enrolled at colleges and universities that are holding all of their classes online this upcoming autumn. Either transfer quickly to an institution teaching students live and in person, as Trump has demanded, or goodbye. Harvard and MIT have sued in federal court to block the move, but the initiative will be felt at universities of all levels. At first brush, Trump’s attack on foreign students may seem like his typical mix of xenophobia and cruelty, but there’s a new, disturbing element to this amid the pandemic: Trump, alarmingly, is treating public safety measures as a political affront.
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