I have been having some trouble sleeping and wanted to share with you what I posted on my social media today. This past weekend a terrible tragedy occurred in the city of Charlottesville, VA; people were killed and injured, directly and indirectly as a result of racism. Yes that word that no one likes to talk about. It is real and it is a problem in our society and has been hidden far too long. You can read here Soul Star Healing my post this morning to my business page.
But what I feel the need to share is that I feel overwhelmed and saddened that our daily life in America has been riddled with anger/pain/suffering/racism/violence etc. The state that our country is in is shocking to so many; and yet, a wake up call to all those who have been silent or have looked the other way for far too long. I have always known that racism existed, but I didn't realize to the capacity it is showing itself now; as if permission was giving to show/act/be hate.
Last year while I was campaigning for Bernie Sanders, I saw for the
first time how angry people in my state were and how clearly racism
still existed here in a way that I wasn't even aware; I live in what you
would call a blue state and I felt safe here. While I understand
energy and the bigger picture of why people are reacting the way they
are, they don't; they don't understand that there is an agenda by the
powers that be to manipulate us; keep us separate from one another, keep
the people apart and keep them in the blame game because who benefits? Not the person in the battle of hate. The benefactors of the divisive rhetoric are those with money, power and control currently; and they are keeping us
distracted from what they are doing to harm the earth and her
inhabitants, while the rest of us suffer all kinds of
fear/violence/suffering/pain etc. We must not give into their agenda, we must remember that we are all in this together to make our country, our world a better place.
While I was driving the other day, I saw a truck in front of me with two the American Flags on it and I almost immediately felt uncomfortable. I was taken aback by that feeling and realized it was almost the response of someone with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Fear ran through me in that moment and made me uncomfortable. I recognized the feeling, I know some of you may not understand why I would refer to an illness in describing how I felt, but I do not use that phrase lightly and it is how I would explain that fear response within me. For the first time, I felt like the racists who call themselves patriots have hijacked our American flag--they hide behind that, saying they love America and want to make it great. (By no means do I mean to imply that all people who consider themselves patriots to be racists, but in a weird, confusing way, I do believe all people who are racists, more specifically, white supremacists believe they are patriots.) I don't want to go into what/why they want to make America great again, enough has been written on that, but in my opinion, I think they got it all wrong.
I mean do they understand America, have they read the constitution? Do they understand that the beauty of this country we live in is that it is made up of all immigrants coming from everywhere? That without the different cultures, educational backgrounds, etc we wouldn't have a country that was/is so dynamic in many ways. That the only true natives are the Native American People? I could go on, but I won't for the sake of my time and yours.
My degree is in Political Science and Public Administration and I believed in our system of democracy. I tell you that because I believed that our flag stood for so much. To me it represented freedom, our rights, the American Dream. I loved our flag and our country, but now with all that is transpiring and being allowed to happen in our country from the event in Charlottesville, Va to the abuse of power and violence in some of our Police Departments to the hatred that has risen to the level of acceptable---I don't feel the same. I am disappointed in our system, I am disappointed in our country and at present the flag does not represent to me what it once did; instead, the flag makes me think of the extreme hatred/racism that the white supremacist movement stands for. I long for it to change, and I am sure you do too.
This is not something we can do alone--it is something we all must come together to do and stand up for our beliefs; we need to drop the ego about who is doing what and focus on the world we wish to create. We need to not fight it with more anger/violence/hate, we need to fight it with love, truth and unity. Perhaps, we don't even use the word fight, perhaps we just love, show support, come together in unity celebrations rather than protests. Let us celebrate what America really is; a place where all can come together; and share and appreciate all our differences and strive to live comfortably, compassionately together.
While I was driving the other day, I saw a truck in front of me with two the American Flags on it and I almost immediately felt uncomfortable. I was taken aback by that feeling and realized it was almost the response of someone with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Fear ran through me in that moment and made me uncomfortable. I recognized the feeling, I know some of you may not understand why I would refer to an illness in describing how I felt, but I do not use that phrase lightly and it is how I would explain that fear response within me. For the first time, I felt like the racists who call themselves patriots have hijacked our American flag--they hide behind that, saying they love America and want to make it great. (By no means do I mean to imply that all people who consider themselves patriots to be racists, but in a weird, confusing way, I do believe all people who are racists, more specifically, white supremacists believe they are patriots.) I don't want to go into what/why they want to make America great again, enough has been written on that, but in my opinion, I think they got it all wrong.
I mean do they understand America, have they read the constitution? Do they understand that the beauty of this country we live in is that it is made up of all immigrants coming from everywhere? That without the different cultures, educational backgrounds, etc we wouldn't have a country that was/is so dynamic in many ways. That the only true natives are the Native American People? I could go on, but I won't for the sake of my time and yours.
My degree is in Political Science and Public Administration and I believed in our system of democracy. I tell you that because I believed that our flag stood for so much. To me it represented freedom, our rights, the American Dream. I loved our flag and our country, but now with all that is transpiring and being allowed to happen in our country from the event in Charlottesville, Va to the abuse of power and violence in some of our Police Departments to the hatred that has risen to the level of acceptable---I don't feel the same. I am disappointed in our system, I am disappointed in our country and at present the flag does not represent to me what it once did; instead, the flag makes me think of the extreme hatred/racism that the white supremacist movement stands for. I long for it to change, and I am sure you do too.
This is not something we can do alone--it is something we all must come together to do and stand up for our beliefs; we need to drop the ego about who is doing what and focus on the world we wish to create. We need to not fight it with more anger/violence/hate, we need to fight it with love, truth and unity. Perhaps, we don't even use the word fight, perhaps we just love, show support, come together in unity celebrations rather than protests. Let us celebrate what America really is; a place where all can come together; and share and appreciate all our differences and strive to live comfortably, compassionately together.
I fear that this event is rippling out more acts of violence, unnecessary fear and divisiveness; and that is what these people strive to do. I certainly hope that each of us is ready to take a stand for our truth and our country. We need to love one another now more than ever.
In light, love and unity,
EstaRa April
In light, love and unity,
EstaRa April
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