Resist The Cowardice of Racism
Fear of the other. Hateful of those not like yourself. Terrified of people who do not look like you, talk like you, worship like you. The nervous shaking of your soul when faced with a foreigner, a foreign idea, a foreign belief. They need to be separated, kept at bay, turned away from you, your community, even violently rebuffed.
This anger and fear is un-American and must be overcome.
The cancerous anxiety of xenophobia and hatred on the basis of culture, race, and religion is the cowardice of racism. To hate a girl, a boy, a mother or father because of who they are without ever knowing them requires the pathology of racist extremism. It is the mindset of terror and the catalyst of hate. It is the very definition of fear. And it comes from a weakness of conscious that is truly un-American.
Do not scare so easily. Stand tall and together. Do not close yourself in fear — but find the strength to hold yourself open.
I refuse to become a person who allows the most baseless fears to overtake me. I refuse to be a person who allows reactionary fear to consume me. I refuse to be a person who hates, who cowers to xenophobic fears, who trembles at the most insidious anxieties of the weak of mind.
Racism is for cowards. Baseless fear of the others is for the poor of conscious. Pejorative panic is for the weak of spirit. And I am not weak. I am an American.
To stand for others takes strength. It requires the power of compassion and grace. To respect the heritage and beliefs of others can require a forceful will. To build a nation fueled on a world of differences is American — indeed, it is America. And I know that America can be hard — but you can be strong.
It takes courage to embrace strangers. But that strength can defeat the weakness of racism. It can give to America and stoke the fires of our nation. We can remain the beacon on a hill for all to flock to.
Do not allow fear to overcome and control you. Resist fear and embrace the strength of compassion. Lift up the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Demand that everyone everywhere be able to live free. And for those who cannot where they are in the world, stand strongly at the open gates of America and shepherd them into the land of the free and the home of the brave.
