I Fear
Fannie Lou Hamer was a Black American activist and civil rights leader 1917-1977
A letter from a white middle-class American worried about the trajectory of this country, fearful of the lack of empathy in people, and lost on how to help and make a difference. Also, an acknowledgment of my white privilege and that I will never understand what it feels like to be judged, starved, ostracized, and demonized because of the color of my skin.
I wrote this piece intending to use it as a voiceover for a social media video, but upon recording and editing the video, it felt a little insensitive in that format. I would still like to share my thoughts and how I've been feeling with all that’s been happening under the current US administration and the handling of civil conflicts throughout this country and others. From genocide in Gaza to famine in Sudan to unlawful deportation in the United States, our world is broken. There is a huge lack of empathy, compassion, and education, and I fear that nothing will get better until everyone decides to care.
But how do we make people care when racism and prejudice have been around long before you and I were born, and long before many of these conflicts even started? We will not move forward until we all, as a collective human race, decide to care more about our neighbors than we do about our money.
I Fear
I fear the world we are creating, or the one we are allowing the men in power to create for us. While I make myself a cozy, comforting meal and sit in my cozy, safe home, I know there are many starving, scared, and fighting for their lives right down the street from me and across oceans.
I know that while I benefit from the privilege of being born into a white middle-class American family in a beautiful, safe city, some children and families were not dealt the same lucky hand that I was.
There are innocent children starving and families being ripped apart because a few powerful and grossly wealthy individuals said it is ok to demonize, blame, ostracize, kill, and disown those who don’t look like you. Or sound like you. Or live or act like you. Or play or cook like you.
At some point in history, someone in power said it was ok to hate and mistreat groups of people who were different from you. And at some point in my history, my 25 years and 10 months on this earth, I realized that a lot of what I have been told, taught, and shown is a total load of bullshit.
So I decided to break away from the white reality I could so easily live in. I decided to care.
I grew up in Southern California close to the Mexican-American border, where people were often taught to fear Mexico and the people from it. To fear people who speak broken English. To fear people who stand outside hardware stores looking for work to feed their families.To fear people who use different spices in their cooking. The cooking we all love so much in this country and state.
Whether it was intentional or not, it doesn’t matter; I was taught to fear the people who were different from us.
But you know who and what I fear most now, as an adult with the privilege of autonomy, free speech, and free will? I fear the men in power who are condoning this hatred. I fear the individuals in my community who say this is okay and look the other way. I fear the fact that this isn’t just happening in this country but in so many around the world. I fear that while so many are sitting in their cozy, safe homes, eating their cozy, comforting meals, protected by their luckily bestowed white privilege, claiming, “Well, they shouldn’t have come here illegally…”, we are losing all hope for humanity.
Immigrants are human beings just like you and me, and that should be enough of a reason to fight for change. There is no world where we all look and speak the same. There is no world where we all act and eat the same. There is no world without diversity. There is no America without immigrants.
There is no liberty and justice for all, without liberty and justice FOR ALL.
