There is one semi-troubling habit that a lot of my fellow Wyomingites have and that's saying that we're "closed" or that "we're full".

As a Wyoming native (born right here in Casper), that admittedly, was gone for twenty years, I understand the thought process. That being said, I have now been back in my birthplace for over twenty-two years, so I've lived here longer than I have anywhere else in the world.

The Wyoming way of lie is vastly different from the majority of the country, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have a level of tolerance and acceptance. Should that change our core values? Absolutely not. However, other than the indigenous population, literally everyone's ancestors were "outsiders" at some point in history, so being more accepting shouldn't be an issue.

Again, as a Wyoming native and someone that grew up way outside of the state (mostly Missouri and Michigan), I have a unique outlook on the Cowboy State. I moved back because of the job market and even more importantly, the safety. When you grow up in a crime-ridden area, your children's safety is the most important quality when looking for a new home, and we are leaps and bounds safer than Flint, Michigan (especially during the late 1980s and early 1990s when I was growing up there).

I also know, not everyone shares the "Wyoming is full" view. I do feel like, at times, that for any city, town or state in the United States (a.k.a. the "land of the free"), it should be more welcoming to anyone migrating from around the country. After all, no one "owns" the entire state or has the right to actually keep someone from moving here, whether those folks are coming from Colorado, California or New York.

Again, I 100% understand preserving our way of life, but that doesn't have to mean keeping everyone else out. That seems like a very dangerous precedent.

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At the end of the day, this is just my personal opinion, but as an African-American and a USMC veteran, again, this is still a free country and every American citizen has the right to live anywhere here, including our little slice of heaven, free of judgement and prosecution.

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