Use Your Words

I didn't sleep well last night, perhaps it was the wind, or maybe it was the atrocities on TV. Maybe I don't know where I fit in the conversation.  I'm not black and I'm not white, I sit in between... I lived near Harlem during 911, I live in an upper middle class suburb now.  I'm a Sikh, a minority religion in India.  My friends and relatives with turbans have had a hell of a time, existing...

So what do I know about this Michael Brown situation? Call me a hippie but why aren't we sitting in circles and peacefully protesting? I want to go to jail for a sit in, because when I go to jail it will be for something I believe in.  

I believe this a conversation our country needs to have... However talking with guns and fires won't work, it never has.  The two movements in this world that worked were peaceful, led by Gandhi and MLK.  

Did we forget this?  What would Martin Luther King say today, after seeing all this?  He would say he had a dream but this is a nightmare.  Why aren't we all sitting down...why can't we talk about this...

Whether it be police brutality or racial profiling, I can only say I have experience with racial profiling as I was always "randomly" selected at the airport during 911 to be thoroughly checked.  

Being looked at like a criminal makes you feel dirty.  Like you don't belong.

I'm no alien, I was born in the USA.  I may not look like your typical American, but guess what, I am.  

Whether you are black, brown, yellow, white or whatever color they designate you, we are all in this together.  

"If there is a man lying in chains anywhere, none of us are free..."

I know actions are louder than words.  So you, the one who wants to kill someone right now, you the angry one, you sit down.  Take a deep breath and think about what good you will do by causing the very type of violence you are protesting.  

There is nothing wrong with a protest but the only ones that really work are the peaceful ones.  

So what's my peaceful protest?  This.  Let's talk about it, let's not forget about it.  Words are the strongest weapons we will ever have. 

nina