We can't do everything but we can do something

I refuse to stay silent any longer. People are dying on the streets while utilizing their constitutional rights. I may not be able to protest, but I can use my voice, so I will use it. This is mainly directed at white people, myself included, but open to anyone.

On my 17th birthday, Alex Pretti was killed, a name I had never heard before and will most likely never hear again. I will not relate the details of which you’ve probably heard many times previously; not long before that, Renee Good was killed in her car. Another death, another murder by people with 8 weeks of training (ICE) or 19 weeks of training (Border Patrol).

These two individuals were citizens, and that was clearly underlined in every major news source, but I would like to point out that it doesn’t matter if they were citizens or if they were undocumented immigrants or the criminals this administration continuously claims ICE and Border Patrol are targeting. It does not matter your legal immigration status; you are a human being, and thus you have the right to due process. It doesn’t matter your immigration status; we are all human beings, and we should all be able to live, do our normal things, exist without fear, and exercise our First Amendment rights.

I hear many people comparing the current actions of the United States government to Nazi Germany. Strangely, I don’t hear this being compared to Japanese internment camps despite their very obvious parallels, because that’s not loud enough, it’s not angry enough. If you want to incite rage, you don’t bring up the United States; you bring up the countries known for their dictators, like Nazi Germany.

I think there is a time and a place to point out how our country is swerving towards dictatorship, and I don’t want to be someone who one day has to tell her grandkids she was on the wrong side, but we need to be careful about the parallels we are drawing.

Have you heard that audio swirling around that says:

“So you watched The Hunger Games, and you sided with the resistance. You watched Star Wars , and you sided with the Resistance. You watched The Matrix, and you understood, and you sided with the resistance — yet when it’s happening to you, in real life, right now, in the news, in the world right now, you refuse to see it. When it’s the reality you’re living, you’re afraid to resist.”

This trending piece of audio makes a good point. It’s easier when you can see the full story. You can look at Nazi Germany and show your disbelief that anyone would side with that. You can point at Soviet Russia and not understand why anyone would side with that. You can look at The Hunger Games, at Star Wars, at The Matrix, and not understand how everyone got it so wrong. It’s not that simple. It’s easy to trust you would do the right thing when you don’t have to do it in real time, when you can sit by and be passive or get angry at your phone as you scroll through reels. Maybe you spend time reading a journalist’s work or watching videos, but you’re not out there. Silence always benefits the oppressor; it never benefits the oppressed.

Why so much emphasis on the killing of white U.S. citizens? Because suddenly you see your face, your skin tone, a reality you understand and can relate to, shot down and ended. But when it’s someone of a different religion, race, socioeconomic background, or immigration status, you don’t feel nearly as passionate, and I say this not as judgment, but as a reality I am a participant in.

I have so much privilege in that I don’t fear being picked up by ICE, and I never will. I am white. Have you seen them assuming I’m an immigrant? That white people are immigrants? Probably not. Because even if I were a first- or second-generation American, I wouldn't be captured on the streets because those are the kind of immigrants Trump wants here, because the color of our skin matters more to them than our worth as human beings.

So I come to you with a simple offering: you cannot do everything, but you can do something. Keep yourself informed by using a variety of sources from across the political spectrum. Talk to friends and family about what’s happening. Be vocal on any platforms you have, whether that be a social media account, a blog like mine, or something else entirely. Reach out to friends or family of color to ask how you can support them, and follow through on their requests.

If that is all you do, it is something. So when your grandchildren ask what you did, you can say, "I did something." Even as our country comes under attack. Even if it gets worse. Even if we have to flee. We can say we did something, not the most things, but something, because our voices together are loud.

So keep shouting. Keep resisting. We are in this together.