See Something, Say Something

Image: AI generated image of a bomb

"If you see something, say something" has been the unofficial motto of the United States since 9/11. We are told to report suspicious packages, to report suspicious people, to point out unattended luggage. And it makes total sense. No one ever wants to think they could have stopped a tragedy but were too afraid to ask for help. It has even become a strategy to stop bullying and sexual harassment: teaching bystanders how to get involved to defuse a situation.

I'm confused then, why none of our elected officials are speaking out about something that demands attention. The Trump administration is aggressively deporting people of color whose only crime might be entering the US without documentation to seek asylum; they are also arresting and deporting folks who have legal status in the US as legal permanent residents. And now have arrested a judge, an elected Mayor and have threatened to arrest members of Congress. A student was arrested in Massachusetts from his citizenship hearing because the Trump Administration disagrees with his expressions of free speech. Meanwhile, Trump has written an executive order to grant refugee status to Afrikaners (who are descendants of White colonial settlers in South Africa) claiming they are being persecuted for being White because the Government passed a bill allowing land redistribution.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. The Trump Administration's actions, again and again, favor White people over people of color. You cannot rationally explain it away, no matter how they dress it up. They think we are stupid, or we are cowards. Given the silence among our elected officials, I'd have to go with cowards (although it's closer than you might imagine.) They giggle like thirteen-year-olds while they spew nonsense-that no one believes-to justify their actions. But their actions are racist, by intent as well as impact. People need to speak out.

We cannot abide cruelty. We cannot abide racism. We cannot abide homophobia or transphobia. We cannot abide misogyny. We have a moral obligation to the future and to this nation to not turn away from what is happening. If you cannot speak out, you must be present and let them know that we are watching. We must hold those responsible to account.

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