Coexist
Today is
the 100 Thousand Poets for Change event. This is a global event, which also
includes musicians, performance artists, mimes, poets, and artists of every
description. Over 100 countries are participating, through poetry readings,
demonstrations, festivals, and countless other celebrations. The goal of this
event is to bring about tangible, positive change, to benefit our communities
and our world. This is my third year participating in the event. Today I have
chosen many topics. The title of today’s piece is “Coexist.”
I have been wracking my brain to find the right words to say,
the right topic to choose for today’s piece, how to say what
I feel and what I
believe is right. The first year I participated in this event, I wrote about gun control. Last year I wrote about the wage gap between the sexes. This year, my third year, I did not know what to talk about. There are so many topics that I feel passionate about that I
do not know where to start. There are so many topics to choose from, and
frankly, so many things that offend me. I could not choose one topic. Here is
what I feel needs to change….
The homophobia against the LGBTQ community offends me. Same
sex couples won marriage equality this year. Yet, many in the community do not
have equality under the eyes of the law. It offends me that anti-discrimination
legislation does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. It bothers me that it is still legal in 27
states in the U.S. to fire someone if they are homosexual; it is legal in 32
states to fire someone who is transgender. Members of the LGBTQ community
deserve complete equality in the eyes of the law.
*Source: http://www.hrc.org/topics/workplace
It also offends me that there have been fifteen transgender
people murdered this year. Fifteen. The death rate has never been that high. I
am at a loss as to what to say.
The xenophobia that the U.S. shows on a daily basis offends
me. This nation was built as a nation of immigrants. To keep others out of the
country simply because they were not born here is ludicrous. I have heard other Americans say: “They are here in my country; they need to
learn my language!” Use of pejorative “they” sets me on edge every time. I
have even heard people say that anyone who is in America that cannot speak
English should be deported.
I shuddered within myself when that was said to me. I felt
ashamed a fellow American made that statement. To be perfectly clear, the U.S.
does not have an official language. If we did, it would probably be English.
But, again, to be clear, there are more than 70 languages spoken in the United
States.
The Islamophobia that is shown in the U.S. offends me. Our
country changed forever on September 11, 2001. However, the attacks of that day
were done by extremists. To judge all Muslims by the acts of a few is
completely unfair. There are many cultural practices in the Islamic religion
that are probably very foreign to many Americans. That means this is the
perfect learning opportunity to learn about Islam, a religion that preaches
brotherhood with all humanity. In his speech to the U.S. Congress two days ago, the Holy Father, Pope
Francis made the following statement: “We know that no religion is immune from
forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means we must be
especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of
any other kind.” He went on to say: “To imitate the hatred and violence of
tyrants and murders is the best way to take their place.”
Sexism in the U.S. offends me. More specifically, the wage
gap between male and female workers bothers me. Things have improved since I wrote on this topic last year; women now earn a penny more. That means
women still earn 79 cents to every $1.00 a male earns in the same job. I am lucky
in that my employer pays equally. Yet it bothers me that women are still
earning less money than men for doing the same exact job. Women make up 51% of
the population. Approximately 82% of single parents are mothers. Women deserve
complete equality. The time has come.
The war on women that is currently going on in the U.S. offends
me. Politicians are closing down abortion clinics, cutting funding for Planned
Parenthood, an organization that provides health screenings to women (33%),
contraception and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (35%), and
abortions (3%).
Currently in the U.S there are politicians that are passing
legislation to make it harder for women to get an abortion. Closing clinics
will not prevent abortions. On the contrary. Women will resort to other options
to end their pregnancies. That desperation could cost these women their lives.
I am pro-choice. That does not mean I am pro-abortion. I believe that it if I
want to get an abortion, for whatever reason, that it is my choice. I also
believe that every woman has the right to choose for herself what she does with
her own body. No one should have the power or authority to legislate a woman’s
choice. A popular statement among women: “Politicians: Get out of my uterus!”
Racism in the U.S. offends me. In Florida an unarmed teenager
was shot while walking home from a convenience store. The gunman was found not
guilty. In Ferguson, Missouri an unarmed teenager was killed by a police
officer. The officer was not indicted. In New York City another unarmed man was
killed by police. No officer was indicted. These verdicts enraged many
Americans. Peaceful demonstrations sprang up across the country in protest. The
Black Lives Matter campaign was born, an activist movement to shed a light on
racialized police brutality.
The lack of gun control in the U.S. offends me. Three years
ago the nation sat in utter silence when we learned of Sandy Hook Massacre. A
gunman went into a school and opened fire. Twenty children and six adults were
murdered. People commented on the tragedy: “A horrible thing.” “Something must
be done about that.” Yet that was all it was. Talking. Nothing has
been done on a national scale to curb the violence. It continues. Since the
violence at Sandy Hook there have been nine hundred and seventy-five shootings,
resulting in 1,217 people being killed and 3,509 people wounded.
It offends me when people make generalizations about one another, painting with a broad brush. I truly
hate when people say “White people think this,” “Black people think that,” “Christians
think this”, “Muslims think this”, “Women do this,” “Men do that.” I know the
power of words, and I hardly use the word “hate.” But in this case, it applies.
I hate those statements. They are generalizations and that are not always true.
To hear closed-minded comments about people of a different color truly disgusts
me. Those are not my views. They do not speak for me. Likewise, there are
statements made by Christians that are in complete opposite to my views and
beliefs. Often verses of the Bible are cherry picked and quoted to illustrate
someone’s stance on a particular issue, to prove that they are in the right. I do not believe the Bible should be used as a pawn to win an
argument. While technically I am a Christian, I will not call myself one. I
refuse to be put into the same category as people that use their religion to
preach a dogma that includes bigotry and hate.
I do not know what to say after all the topics I have
mentioned. All of these issues are based on nothing more than fear, anger and
hate. Tolerance is needed now more than ever. Tolerance, understanding, and
respect. We do not always have to agree with one another. Yet we all need to respect
one another, make an effort to understand what is foreign to us, and learn to coexist.
“Let there be peace on
Earth and let it begin with me.”
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