This Is Not America

The world is a beautiful and terrifying place. The world is a beautifully terrifying place.

Being born in the time that I was, I feel lucky to have seen such progress. That is beautiful. Being born in the time that I was, I feel horrified to have seen such violence and hatred. That is terrifying.

Decades after the civil rights movement, we are still making excuses for police brutality stemming from racism, and claiming that because we love Beyoncé and watch Empire, racism in the mainstream no longer exists. And we do love Beyoncé, and we do watch Empire, and some of us do believe that racism in the mainstream does not exist, but it does. And those who cannot acknowledge that are ignorant. So is that “progress” really progress?

This scares me. As a gay man, I fear we will never be equal. We will always be made to feel like less. The African Americans will always be made to feel like less. The Muslims will always be made to feel like less. This is not America. Not the America I want and not the America we need.

Hope has been hurt, but it is not dead. The answer is to love. To listen, to empathize, to understand, to relate, and to change. Change your thinking. Change your teaching. Change your language, and your jokes, and your sideways glances.

The future is in our hands.