For some of us, life is “business as usual.” For others, it’s not!
The events unfolding in our country have catapulted many communities into chaos and despair.
It has forced business owners to reassess their bottom line, causing many to close their doors.
It has forced families to pause in community engagement and how they show up because merely being an “other” has profiled them to the point of terror.
It has challenged church communities to address the safety of their parish. Safe Sanctuary is no longer a viable option for most of these places, and they have had to address how they congregate, considering the safety and well-being of their congregants.
It has prompted doctors, nurses, and hospitals to reassess their treatment of migrant workers. Undocumented migrants have been taken from their homes, jobs, hospital visits, churches, schools, markets, malls, and sidewalks.
They say they have warrants? For the gardener? For the farmer? For the nanny? For the laborer? For the server? For the minister? For the housekeeper? For the schoolteacher? For the construction worker? For the cooks? For the students? For the business owners? For the politician? For the protestors? For the news anchors?
So, you see, I find it a bit disingenuous that we conduct ourselves as “business as usual” in our communities when we know the terror most of us are living in.
Yes, I include myself because I do not walk around with displaced privilege. As Supreme Court Associate Justice Sotomayor stated in her dissenting opinion this weekend – “No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates.“
That anyone would choose to disengage from what is happening in our country is absolutely gutwrenching and, in my humble opinion, abhorrent. No Latino, no matter the shade of your skin, should ever walk around with ANY privilege. You, my friend, have a target on your back.
So, as we walk into what may be the most existential moral and political crisis of our time, I ask you…what side of the aisle do you stand? What will be said of you when all is said and done? How will history remember you?
As Representative Liz Cheney said,
“I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”
I would say the same of the citizens of this Country –
For those who are defending the indefensible: One day, Donald Trump will be long done, but your actions and words will remain – what will it say of you?
I will forever dissent!