With the recent events in my home state, I’d love to be able to offer some heartening thoughts about Asian-American and minority solidarity, about how racism is a passing fad in the course of a beautiful renaissance of human kindness, or a million other things that I wish were true. But today, I don’t have the energy to contribute to the discourse. I grieve for the victims, the community, and for all of the victims before that were never seen and never heard.
To quote a tweet by the poet Chen Chen, "let me stay tender-hearted, despite despite despite."
Instead of trying to write something today, I’ll let the late great Alice Walker take it from here, imagining the future.
“The World We Want Is Us”
by Alice Walker
It moves my heart to see your awakened faces;
the look of "aha!"
shining, finally, in
so many
wide open eyes.
Yes, we are the 99%
all of us
refusing to forget
each other
no matter, in our hunger, what crumbs
are dropped by
the 1%.
The world we want is on the way; Arundhati
and now we
are
hearing her breathing.
That world we want is Us; united; already moving
into it.
With each day, we can move closer to a more equitable world. Reminders:
Donate to Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta Mutual Aid Networks
Anti-racism resources
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Yours,
Nikhil