This is Not Right

I have spent a long time debating whether to write this. Even now, I'm not sure what will come of it and I don't know if I am prepared for all the possible reactions. 

This is not about writing. This is about what is going on in my country, right now.

Some of you reading this may wonder why I hesitated. The answer is that I prefer not to engage in online debate on Facebook. I know from studying psychology, that very few people who get into arguments about political issues are actually interested in an intelligent discussion. And when I say intelligent, I mean fact-based, respectful, and empathetic. 

I stayed quiet because I did not want to end up in any sort of fight with someone who I could not convince to even consider my point of view. It's a waste of my time and it would not offer any noticeable change. 

But what is going on in my country right now, it is not right. Too many people have been frightened or forced into silence. I have not and if I sit silent because I am worried about someone's opinion of me, then I am complicit in the atmosphere of hate and fear. 

That is not right.

There are so many wrongs to choose from: the ban on immigrants, temporarily stayed by judges, the censorship of scientists, the tightening of the noose around women's health care, the fact that a man who brags about assaulting women has the ability to bring the apocalypse raining down on the innocent men, women and children of the entire globe, and the list goes on.

I believe every one of those to be wrong. Every single one.

You are free to disagree with me. It is your Constitutional right to tell me I am wrong, that I'm a stupid bitch or a fucking liberal. But that same right applies to me when I say I disagree with everything you believe. It does not make me unpatriotic. It does not make me subhuman. It makes me an American. The moment anyone threatens to take away your right to say what you believe, that is when America is in danger. 

You might think that Democrats or liberals or anyone who disagrees with you needs to shut up and just accept the new president. But don't you dare argue that we are unpatriotic when we exercise our right to tell you to go to hell because we are not going to shut up.

This all applies to those who think like me. You can't stand up and talk about equality without knowing you have to be willing to protect your worst enemy's right to speak their mind, too. That's how this works. A genuine defense of the Constitution, of the United States of America, means defending someone's right to disagree and say the exact opposite of you. 

On my mom's side, I have an ancestor who lived in colonial America. She was applauded by the governor after she killed a group of Native Americans. They had killed her family, including her newborn baby, and taken her and her only surviving child hostage. While they slept, she killed and scalped them.

On my dad's side, I have a Cherokee ancestor. I'm also the descendant of German and Irish immigrants. Yet I am a white woman, safe and warm and fortunate enough to be attending a university. I am lucky. I know that.

I could stay quiet. I could avoid offending anyone. I could languish in my relative safety.

But I have read enough of history to know how that will end. Fear and hate are the greatest weapons of mass destruction ever created by mankind. My fear is nothing compared to the fear of those trapped in airports right now, or of those terrified they will be separated from their families. But my fear serves the same purpose: it threatens to keep me from doing anything. 

No more. 

This is not right. 
This is not right.
This is not right.