A contributed perspectives piece by Cara Walton
There is a wonderful line in “It’s the Great Pumpkin: Charlie Brown” where Linus says “There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people – Religion, Politics, and the Great Pumpkin.” He’s learned the lesson that some people get really upset when you question them about certain subjects, but sometimes people need to be upset.
There are so many horrible things happening right now that it is overwhelming. To try to stay well-informed and active in politics is exhausting both physically and mentally.
I can’t say everything that needs to be said, so I’m going to focus on the kidnappings and disappearances ICE is committing across the country and in our own neighborhoods because to say and do nothing is to be complicit in acts of evil.
I started working in public schools in 1997 as an assistant and have been a teacher since 1999. One of the things that I have always found rewarding and special about Harrisonburg is the growing diversity of the student body and the refugees who call our city home.
I have heard stories from many students over the years that have broken my heart. Two young girls who had their father pulled from their home and killed in the middle of the night. People fleeing civil war. A young man whose father translated for soldiers during the war in Iraq and his entire family showered with gunfire while working with Americans leaving the father paralyzed.
America used to say, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” and now I see people posing with signs for Alligator Alcatraz and cheering the brutalization of other human beings by ICE agents who are too cowardly to show their faces.
What has happened to us? As a student and teacher of history, I know too well that all of Human history is full of people doing horrible things to one another.
It just seems to me that finding even simple compassion, especially from our politicians, is becoming almost impossible. There is some mumbling about law and order and tough on crime or “America First” and then capitulation to the rising authoritarianism of our government and the denial of due process to more and more people.
There are always the same talking points saying the people being violently taken off the street are “criminals” and “murderers” the “worst of the worse” despite the fact that data from detention centers shows that 70-71% of those being detained have no criminal record.
I am so very tired of people trying to justify the horrible actions we are seeing by using “Christianity.” Were they asleep in Church when they were taught the parable of the Good Samaritan, where Jesus said our neighbor was the person in need and we need to help anyone in need and not just people like ourselves.
We need to care for our neighbors. If you’ve ever looked back at historical events and wondered how they happened…why did people do nothing?
Well, you’re witnessing it right now. I try to speak out, to write to my politicians, to stand up for others, for in my mind…doing what I am able to do to help others is better than doing nothing and being complicit by inaction. I strive to love my neighbor as myself.
Now, go and do likewise.
Cara Walton lives in Harrisonurg.
