Reliving a Nightmare

Sharing a post I wrote about a year ago. It feels all the more relevant today. We have neighbors, friends, community members who are crying out for justice and so often it seems they are not being heard. I feel particularly challenged to do something to amplify that voice, to join in to support that voice.

I have privilege. I have choices. What will I choose to do?

*****

Nightmare (originally posted July 3, 2016)

I just woke up from a nightmare. I had been called into the office of a school to meet with school staff about my daughter. As it is in most nightmares, I was in a school I had never seen before and the staff members were equally unknown to me. What was important about the scene was that these people were making observations about my child and telling me what they were going to do about what they perceived to be her problems or difficulties.

But I couldn't talk. I couldn't get my mouth open, or if I could, I could barely make sound or form words. When I tried communicating through writing I could only produce a scrawl. It was infuriating. These people were making assumptions and choosing a plan of action that was wrong and I couldn't even make myself heard. I kept pounding the table.
What else could I do?

Now that I am awake I'm thinking about how incredibly dehumanizing it is to be put in the position of having no voice. Tomorrow is Independence Day, which makes it all the more urgent, I think, to face up to the fact that there are so many people in this country that have been rendered voiceless:

• By racism
• By poverty
• By sexism
• 
  

I woke up from my nightmare to a world where the deck is pretty much stacked in my favor. I have the ability to make myself heard. It's my little piece of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Shouldn't that liberty, and justice, be for all?