In the past, I’ve tried to be one of those people that stays out of politics, and followed the age-old rule of not “bringing up religion or politics.” However, in today’s society, it’s extremely hard not to. Especially when governmental policies are affecting you directly. I think that rhetoric of it being taboo needs to die a fast death. In fact, not talking about it has formed a big ugly stain in our country. We’ve become succumbed to brushing it under the rug and formed a habit of shying away from discussing controversial topics. How can you not care about men raping children and it being a law that the said child must have a baby? How can you not be disgusted with how many unarmed black bodies are getting killed by the police, only to have an unarmed white woman’s family awarded a couple of million dollars. I’m not belittling her life or saying her life doesn’t matter, but the fact that I must make this disclaimer shows how ill-informed our society is.
The fact of the matter is someone like her has a life that matters, and a black or brown person’s life does not matter to the law and political entities. People say that it is terrifying to know that there are people that are on a higher level trying to tell people like me what I should be doing with my body, when this has been happening for decades. When women who looked like me were taken from their native land only to be beaten and raped. We had no choice of whether we wanted to consent or not. We were forced to breed, forced to abstain, and yet are we not seeing a sense of déjà vu? You’re saying a 6 week ball of cells is considered a human being when you don’t consider my community human beings? I guess you could say it is more “humane” in the sense that no one is tying anyone up in chains, but metaphorically we are all still enslaved. As far as I’m concerned, my life never mattered.
So it’s safe to say that this behavior has always been barbaric. The only difference is that it has evolved to be written on pieces of paper to make it the “law.” So, my ancestors came to this country with absolutely no rights, and now some white man hiding behind the faux ivory towers is telling me that even if I get raped, I may be the one that is considered more jail time than my rapist? When they say history repeats itself, they truly weren’t lying. I used to be an optimist, but I’ve turned into more of a realist. I saw a quote the other day that basically said, and I’m paraphrasing here, that if there is so much “fake news” going around currently, then how are we taking what is seen in history books word for word?
Who wrote the bible? Who wrote common news articles? Religious texts have been manipulated, altered and changed just to fit the majority’s agenda. That’s a reason of why I have distanced myself from religion over the years, even though I respect people’s beliefs. It doesn’t sit well with me when a human being’s life is being told that their life matters less than everyone else’s because of their lifestyle or the color of their skin. The whole slogan “Make America Great Again” is built up on the old European barbaric idealization that nobody else has rights unless they say so. It is tickling when I see certain demographics shouting this phrase not knowing they are slapping their ancestors for everything they lived and died for. It all is too mind blowing for me to fathom, but instead of being optimistic about this world, it’s caused me to go into a slight depression thinking about humanity and how we all came about. While I do see the beauty in this world, I’m not blinded by the temporary light. In fact, I’m more jaded than I ever have been. It makes me miss childhood innocence however I am grateful that I am not willfully ignorant of what we are facing every day. It’s not something that I can escape from.
I am not trying to leave this post on a somber note, but in a nutshell I just urge everyone to be aware. Know your rights and hopefully have the gall and willpower to not just take things for what they are. I don’t consider myself an activist by any means, just a regular woman who always aims for change. I take the love of my soul above anything else, and that’s followed by the love for my family and culture. I feel as if we have put our heads down with our tails between our leg for too long and just accepted things for what they were. Whether your outlet is getting involved in the community, writing, creating art or simply educating your children and those around you, we should never feel like our voices can’t and shouldn’t be heard.
Chesca's Corner 