Today, we have demonstrated to the rest of the world the true values of the United States of America
I would like to start this article by quoting, and later paraphrasing, Mahatma Ghandi's speech in Geneva in December of 1931 when he said: "I regard myself as a soldier, though a soldier of peace". Remember these words, as they will align with the purpose of the article.
After the election results last Tuesday, I can honestly say that I felt devastated, even to the point of truly feeling heartbroken. I could not believe that America would choose the oppressive, racist, sexist, homophobic, and Islamophobic option. Aggregated to that, I could not believe that hate won over love, that attacking was a better strategy than debating, that violence was a better solution than ideas. Then I slowly started to realize that yes; issues like the ones presented in this electoral campaign are still there and we have to acknowledge them in order to fight them properly, but they can't and they won't break real American values. A few rotten apples are not going to damage the whole barrel. The majority of the American people spoke and proved that this nation is against those values. Today I saw what the United States of America, and its future, really looks like. The picture that is set as the cover image of this article is a photo I had the pleasure to take while participating in such an honorable event.
Students, faculty, and administration gathered in the outdoor amphitheater of the Lone Star College Cy-Fair campus. In a peaceful rebellion to their other responsibilities, they exercised the real values for what the United States of America stands for. They discussed the reason for the protest, the logistics of the event, and after a couple of inspiring speeches the protesters gave a three-round silent march through campus while holding signs. The signs were peaceful messages of support for all minority groups that were attacked and oppressed during the past electoral campaign. “Illegal is not a noun,” “I support my undocumented students,” ”Muslim Lives Matter,” “Black Lives Matter,” “People > Profit,” “Say no to hate,” and many more, were some of the messages written in the signs that protesters were holding. I was lucky enough to be part of this exemplar demonstration of peaceful resistance. I walked with the protesters and got to see the reaction of people while we were walking. Some of them took videos, photos, shared the event on social media, etc. The sensation in the environment was definitely of pride and happiness. Hate was not in the air today at Lone Star College Cy-Fair. Policemen taking pictures and happily smiling, faculty passing by waving their hands and giving thumbs up as a sign of approval and respect, students from different backgrounds walking by and joining while the protesters silently marched expressing their opinion. While I was walking all that I could think of is the effect and the impact that a successful demonstration of pure expression can be. Regardless of what you think. regardless of what your opinion is, if you are able to get the message through, just like this community did today, you are definitely a catalyst for change.
The protest lasted about 30 minutes and everybody gave consent that this demonstration of expression should be repeated next Monday (and possibly every Monday for a certain period of time) in order to create more awareness and show more support to those communities.
Congratulations to everybody that was part of this event because you have become part of the greatest type of soldiers on Earth. My fellow students, faculty, and administration form part of the strongest army in the world: the army of the Soldiers of Peace as Mahatma Gandhi would say. You stood strong in your values, voicing out your opinion, and condemning every type of hate action that affected your country without giving any reason to the enemy to attack you back. As the leader of today’s event/movement, Raven Campos, perfectly stated: “Injustice is the real enemy”. There is no need to burn flags, there is no need to shout, become disruptive or extremely rebellious, there is no need to get violent, there is no need to call names or attack the other opinions using the same rhetorical method that they use. Today you have demonstrated that ideas, education, and respect speak louder than violence, hate, and ignorance. The true method of unifying this country and bringing enlightment to our fellow citizen’s lives is based on everything I saw today at this event. Injustice lost the battle today.
Today you have demonstrated to the rest of the world the true values of the United States of America. If you think that real soldiers have to wear armor and use guns, the only thing I can say to you is that throughout history ideas have won a lot more battles than bullets have. As a citizen of the world, who does not have the right to vote in this country, I personally want to say to everybody that attended this and is planning to attend the next one: “Thank you for your service, soldiers."
