About Them Prayers…
On the day of the attack — and a few days after — everyone on my Facebook feed started changing their profile pictures to ones with that French flag filter (I did that too) and writing these mushy notes on the lines of:
my [prayers/condolences/well wishes] are with the people of paris [possibly add Beruit, Japan, Kenya, etc]. these terrorists [aren’t all Muslims/are psychos/won’t win]! may love and peace and tolerance win forever!!!!!!!!! :) :) ❤ ❤
Most were better articulated than that, but that’s the basic idea.
I posted:
And now it’s a week later. Here’s what I posted on Facebook this time:
Hey, look! It’s been a week since we all did those things to our profile pictures that prove that Americans truly have forgiven France for not wanting to invade Iraq back in ’03.
We all posted our respectful, love-will-conquer-all statuses, we denounced violence, we prayed for France, and even took a minute to remember that Lebanon and Iraq got bombed too.
(We didn’t talk about how Syria probably was bombed that day, because it gets bombed every day — in part by American forces.)
And what has come of all our prayers?
Well…
There’s a manhunt in France for the last attacker and whoever planned the attack. Police found a fake Syrian passport on one of the attackers — a strange pocket item for someone who probably wasn’t planning to go to Syria afterward. The head of the National Front, France’s equivalent of the Tea Party except way more overtly racist, said, “France and the French are no longer safe” in a press conference. The Democratic Debate on CBS became a series of promises to eradicate ISIS — somehow. A bunch of U.S. governors (including Massachusett’s own Charlie Baker) now don’t want to take Syrian refugees, because these people fleeing terrorists might be terrorists themselves….for some reason. Oh, and France is bombing ISIS, because clearly Syria needed more bombing.
Pardon my French, but, uh, our prayers did not do shit.
I remember saying that fear is the real enemy — and fear has won. Because compassion is silent. It stands, dressed in black, with its head bowed, murmuring well wishes, while fear bangs its fist on the table and yells, “Someone must pay for this!”
But here’s the thing: ISIS, just like every other terrorist group, wants fear to win. That’s why they’re called terror-ists. As in terror. Fear. Panic. Because fear — and the resulting hatred and violence — is a great control mechanism. As long as bombs fall on Syria and Iraq, ISIS can say The West is the bad guy: “They’re bombing us! They’re persecuting us! They don’t care about Muslims!”
And you know who’s fighting The West? That’s right: ISIS.
Fear makes people do horrible, horrible things. And the compassionate majority lets it happen. Because — again — compassion is silent.
So get mad.
Start by writing a letter to Charlie Baker. I’m doing that. Start by protesting military action — you can respect soldiers while insisting they shouldn’t get blown up thousands of miles from home. Start by voting out every warmongering scumbag who appears on the ballot. You know what counts less than your vote? Your staying at home instead of voting!
Actually, let’s get real here: Let’s put together a short letter for our good ol’ Governor Baker. I mean a paper letter. Whereas an email can be deleted with a button, a letter can only be deleted by looking at the letter, reading a few lines of it, and literally ripping it apart.
I want you to write this or copy/paste it into Word:
Dear Governor Baker,
I recently heard that you are against accepting refugees from the Syrian Civil War. I understand that you have fears about terrorist activity in Massachusetts, but you are speaking under the assumption that people running away from terrorists are terrorists themselves. That is ridiculous. If the KKK burned down your house and forced you to move, would that make you a member of the KKK? Of course not. So why are you using that same logic on Syrian refugees?
You legally have no authority on whether the United States accepts refugees. But your words still have power — and right now, they are perpetuating racism and xenophobia. Remember that these words are written on the Statue of Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”Does this remind you of Syrian refugees? It should. And your resistance to them makes me wonder why that statue still exists.
So please, make a point of welcoming with open arms the refugees of one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the 21st century, or else I will look for another gubernatorial candidate to vote for in 2018.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
[Your Phone Number]
[Your Email Address]
There you go. Print that out, fold it, and find an envelope and some postage stamps. If you don’t have any, ask someone over 40 — or ask me. I have some envelopes and stamps myself.
If you are in the Greater Boston area, address your letter to:
Massachusetts State House
Office of the Governor
Room 280
Boston, MA 02133
If you are in the Worcester/Pioneer Valley Area (e.g. if you’re at UMass), address it to:
Western Massachusetts Office of the Governor
State Office Building
436 Dwight Street, Suite 300
Springfield, MA 01103
And there you go. You’re officially interested in politics. This is good, because politics has been interested in you since forever.
Thank you.
