There have been so many disturbing attacks on the humanity of our country. It has been going on for the past three years, but it feels like we are in a full-blown attack on Latino immigrants. Scarily, we are on the verge of fascism.
Prior to the 2016 election, I always thought that fascism and the KKK existed in the past. It’s history, it couldn’t possibly happen again. Not after Barack Obama has been elected. Not in the age of social media and smart phones. It’s just inconceivanle that there could be another Hitler. That we would regress to the Jim Crow era. That a known rapist could become the Supreme Court judge. That children would be put into cages.
It’s super disheartening and I don’t know whether to mute it all so I don’t know. For a long time I ignored all of it because I was in survival mode, and I didn’t need to know anything else terrible. But now, I cannot imagine ignoring it. Politics has to do with all of us.
There have been so many attacks–on teen girls, children, immigrants, brown folks, parents–perpetrated by white supremacists. With every awful act that goes unpunished, unrecognized, or unnoticed, a more awful act is allowed to happen. I don’t know how much more awful it can get.
How do we empower ourselves? That is the question I’m always asking. What can we do? Are things even more hopeless than we think, or is there a way to pull it around? What does that look like?
I do not have the answer but I’m going to find out what I can. The ways I’m going to attempt that is by:
- Bringing peace and conflict resolution in my micro-community
- Bear witness to the more global things happening around me–whether it is a car accident, a shooting, or
- Be intentional in the workplace and recognize biases.
Some more on this topic:
“This Land Is Our Land” is the Manifesto We Need at a Time When Immigration is Being Criminalized
What if courts treated young sex trafficking victims like Cyntoia Brown as People, Not Perpetrators?
‘I’ve Got Nothing Over here’: Michigan Man Deported By ICE Dies in Baghdad
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