Look through a kaleidoscope of your world. What do you see? Is it filled with colors and diversity? Or is it clouded with harsh judgements and destruction? The year of 2016, preceding generations had predicted great strives for us. Advances beyond belief, we've met some preconceived ideas of what this year would be, yet they did not predict Americans still fighting for civil liberties. Instead our days have been reduced to praying for the next tragedy.
The infrastructure of our country has been compromised, the foundation shifting day by day. The devastating reality is that destruction has begun to outweigh prosperity, that fear has replaced hope, and that the darkness of this world is starting to prevail. These realities have become too much to bear. Because in my world a gun has become more effective than words, killing is a better strategy than pushing for policy change, individuals are taught to interact differently based on their pigmentation, and officers are scared to serve and protect.
In the current state of our nation, I’m terrified to stay.
The blame game started the second those triggers were pulled. There is a clear agreement that wrongful, unjust acts have and continue to take place. Who was to blame? The answer is not as clear as it may seem. No one man can bare full responsibility in the acts that took place. This culture has desensitized the issues at hand, so don’t scream our grievances loud enough for the people in the back to hear. Scream it loud so the people standing next to you can hear it, so they can see you embrace it, so they can understand the problem. Our generation has underestimated the true power of solidarity.
The media has attempted to simplify the cause and effects of the situations, placing the blame on police overreach, placing the blame on activists that have demonstrated violence, placing the blame on everyone who has a different opinion. Our culture has succumbed to an arena where either you are right or you are wrong, there is no in between. There is no ability to state an opinion without offending. You can not speak freely without the fear of persecution, so who’s to blame?
Look at your hands.
You may think you’re innocent, but the truth is we all bare a degree of responsibility in the issues at hand. This is not just a police problem, this is not only a race problem, this is not a gun problem. This is a human problem. We have built this country brick by brick, yet we’ve made groups of people feel as though they were visitors rather than residents. We have ostracized our own. We have allowed a division to exist. We have allowed diversity to yield a culture that separates instead of embraces. We have allowed our institutions to perpetuate the advancement of some over others. We have allowed ourselves to lack a respect towards one another based on the skin color we possess or what uniform we wear. We have underestimated one of our greatest advantages: the power to change.
I may be naive or a little too optimistic, but I believe this country is capable of much greater things. I believe we are capable of much greater things, but for now you’ve lost me America.
