America is sick.
We are plagued by hate, violence, injustice, and division, and we have been for a very long time.
But you don’t need me to tell you that. I’m sure that regardless of how you identify (racially, politically, religiously, etc.), you are very much aware of the social and spiritual illnesses that are taking hold of our country at this time.
I, for one, am feeling pretty helpless. And scared. I have spent the last two nights crying, mourning the bloodshed and hate that I am seeing all around us. I am heartbroken by the pain, sorrow, suffering, destruction, and chaos that we have become accustomed to seeing on our television screens and in our streets. And I can’t help but wonder: what comes next? How can human beings do such horrendous things to other human beings? Is there any hope left?
This is not the America that I dreamed of when I was a little girl, long before I moved here at the age of 13. And I realize now that the America I was promised as a White immigrant has not only escaped me, but it has never really been made available to our Black and Brown brothers and sisters. And that hurts my heart.
I can’t offer any words of hope or wisdom at this time. I don’t really know what to say. And, quite frankly, I’m not sure that anything I might have to say right now would be helpful anyway.
But I can sit in the pain that I am feeling in this moment, honoring it and creating space for it. I often ask my clients to do this in therapy. Now it is my turn.
-Laura
Anti Racism Resources:
Race talk and facilitating difficult racial dialogues by Derald Wing Sue
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