To all my African, Mexican, Asian, Native, Indian, and White friends who are experiencing this open door on hate & have been negatively affected, my heart hurts, too.
To all my religious friends who are displaying your faith. I like to display my spirituality, too. I support your right to display yours in whatever way is meaningful for you.
To all my friends who’ve experienced assault, I have experienced the invasion of my personal boundaries too, and I know cultural language played a large role in what was considered acceptable – “locker room”, religious, and community talk shape behavior norms. I will speak up for those who have no voice.
To all my friends embracing their sexual identity, I embrace mine, too. When you show your love it spills into my experiences of love, too. I want people who show love and respect to surround me. I do not care what parts that love falls upon.
To all my friends who are diverse, my life is richer with your presence, more vibrant with your different cultures, values, and displays of heritage. My spirituality is deeper based on your questions and challenges to my own beliefs. I do not fear our differences. I am made whole by them.
I want diversity in my America. I want my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to experience this vibrancy too.
My America has no room for this kind of disgusting behavior. The America I know is one built on individuality and freedom. It is one where all are accepted and civility matters. In my America there are problems and struggles and items to work on. Work on them we do, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully. Yet, when we work on them together we get stronger. America gets better. America is great because we are all in this together and we all have a voice.
I am embarrassed and horrified by the acts of violence and hate in this Huffington Post article. As Martin Luther King said “darkness does not drive out darkness, only light drives out the dark. And hate does not drive out hate, only love ends hate”.
Let us come together and stand strong against those who wish to drive us apart.
Photo graphic by: Jarmiła Rybicka, 26, Poland. The graphic represents one human countenance constructed from four pieces cut of four persons’ faces. It is suppose to symbolically unite diversity of human beings and their experiences present in the city in the one body.
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