We all sing in the same voice or why we need to work together to create the beauty.
Darlings,
I am still so happy about our country's desire to be a more just and loving place that was made so apparent by the decision of the SCOTUS on Friday. Honestly, I may not be gay, but I mean, darlings, we're all the same. All human.
Unfortunately, the glory of Friday's decision has been overshadowed by all of the racially motivated hate crimes happening all over our country.
This is what my mom recalls me asking for when asking for the above Sesame Street short over and over and over again when I was little. I am lucky to have grown up in a home where diversity in gender, sexuality, race, religion, ethnicity was celebrated. More than celebrated, it was barely acknowledged that there was a difference. Flash forward to highschool, a diverse group of city kids arguing about race, understanding that the end goal was just that - understanding. We were all more than tolerant, we were passionate.
And I could never know what it was like to grow up black, just as my friend next to me would never know what it's like to grow up white. We argued about things because we knew the heightened understanding of each other would make us better people. I know not everyone is as lucky as I. And I know that this generalized hatred around people who are different from you starts at home.
Six churches. Too many individuals to count. Kids at pool parties being attacked by the people this country has put its trust in to protect us. It's a whole lot to take in and until now I felt that maybe as a white woman, it wasn't my place in the rhetoric to make any opinionated commentary. But what I've realized is that it's not opinion. Feeling safe, feeling equal - those things are not privileges in this country. They are rights. And these rights aren't just for certain people. They are for all Americans.
I am still trying to understand what, as an individual, I can do to create a more just society, so I'm not saying I have an answer. I'm just frustrated. And I wanted to share my frustrations, because sometimes the discourse, even just to the ethers of the internet, makes one other person feel like maybe they should say something too.
Eventually we're all going to have to embrace the fact that our species is human and that is the thing that makes us all the same. That our DNA looks the same at the core, that in one way or another we've all made our way from Africa. We're all the same.Listening to some older adolescents talk about recent events on the radio, I realized - these kids have no one else to tell them why their parents are wrong. And if we continue the cycle of hate, we will see a strong reverse in the long fought battle for civil rights.
So how do we educate people who don't want to be educated? I don't know, but I want to try to figure it out.
Not that this makes anything better, but I've been listening to this live Paul Simon concert lately. It took place in Zimbabwe, in 1987 - right as the ties of apartheid were beginning to fray. And I youtubed it just to see what the vibe was like. And to my partial surprise, the audience, the performers, the entire show was incredibly diverse , and to be honest, it gave me the chills. People coming together to celebrate the beauty of their country, the beauty of their world.
Darlings, let's work together to make this country understand the beauty of what we have and forget the undo burden of forced separation. It's unnecessary, of no value and mean.
xoxo lcf