Sunday

6.7.20

A friend posted this in his newsletter called Katexic: https://katexic.com/

Elie Wiesel in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

“I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lies are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men and women are prosecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must–at that moment–become the center of the universe.”

The newsletter spoke of complacency in this turbolent times. I felt ashamed because I feel like I belong to the complacent. My only actions are occasionally posting links to various articles that condemn trump and his cronies on Twitter and Facebook. But is this enough? Besides the cynicism about the situation set in. The fear that trump inspite of his horrible actions that instigate violence and put people against each over will win another four years to reign over country that is heading straight to being not only in emotional distress but on fire is taking a hold of me. I am tired of saying that I welcome Biden with open arms. It is a given at this point. I just hope most of the country realizes that. For the first time in my life I urge people to vote for someone I disagree with and consider being spineless. The only silver lining to that vote would be a woman Vice-President. There is no other way to get trump out of his office.

Black Lives Matter is a powerful movement but I think it should be extended to other people of color as well: American Indians, Latinos, Muslims. All the opprested and discriminated against. We have to widen the scope! All shades of black Lives Matter! Undeniably, the color of black is the most oppressed. Undeniably, the hardships and descrimination and racism affected black communities the most for many many years. The slavery mentality has never gone away. But now this mentality is extended to others. Take, for example, the vages we pay to Mexican migrants. They are laughable! And the working conditions are atrocious. Here in Oregon, one of the students at Pacific University where I work did an evaluation of working conditions of Mexican workers for her capstone project. The results made me cry (literally). She found that the workers have not been given water as they work in the fields on hot days unless they bring their own. This resulted in highest number of heat strokes in the country, even deaths. The communities are not educated on how to recognize the signs of heat stroke and of course no one can afford to get medical care. It is another form of slavory! Once, when I was living in NYC sometime ago, I got in a cab with an Indian driver. He was very talkative. Jammed in his life story was the fact that in his country he was a surgeon. Now he drives a cab just to keep his family afloat. It is another form of racism! And I can go on and on as I am sure many people would provided they have been given a voice.

As for my voice, I can only continue being present on social media. But people are tired of political posts because the Internet is floded with them on both sides of the spectrum. The only reconsoliating for me is that I still give my voice and hope that people will do the right thing with it — hear!

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