I have long known my country–and the West as a whole–has held a varying value for the lives it claims are equal. I first realized this when I was about nine as I heard my parents overjoyed when they received their Alien Cards after being long time H1B visa holders. The idea of a human being seen as “legal”, “illegal”, or an “alien” confused me. This was also around the time I first remember hearing then first-time presidential candidate Donald Trump’s cries to build a wall on the southern border, to keep out “illegal aliens” he deemed as undesirables. These early impressions led me to the realization that the sub-human status and treatment of Black and Brown people were part of the reality of the world I live in.
It took a bit longer to understand that the varying values for human life held by my country and the western world had been a long lasting tradition. America and her peers have prided themselves upon their imperialist legacies for centuries. Though she may have recently begun to attempt to guise her treatment behind a layer of sugarcoated lies and superficial promises; her values remain the same. The bitter banners of American Exceptionalism and the chase for Manifest Destiny have never left and grow stronger as time goes on. The Trump presidency has made it clear as they have breached the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people, an aggressive act to assert and expand U.S. dominance. The president has also proposed the Monroe Doctrine–a callback to the imperialist Monroe Doctrine of 1823–and continues to belittle immigrants and those of formerly colonized nations as he has called them “animals” and “garbage” while openly longing for Western European immigrants.
But, it is only recently I have seen the vile treatment of those historically stepped on be expanded to those historically protected. The deaths of White U.S. Citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti have shown us that color and nationality no longer serve as a form of protection.
America, greedy and gluttonous, now eats all of her children.
These actions are not disguised or masked like earlier described, they are defended. It is sickening to see my nation’s Vice-President J.D. Vance defending the egregious actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other pseudo-law enforcement agencies as they kidnap children such as Liam Ramos and murder innocent civilians such as Keith Porter Jr. and the aforementioned Good and Pretti.
It is also important to note, though America has begun to eat all her children, there are those she treats as fast food and those she treats as delicacies. Media coverage for Black and Brown deaths caused by ICE is far less than the few White U.S. citizen deaths. While the murders of Good and Pretti are extensively being covered by news outlets of all political bias, deaths such as Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55 year-old Cuban immigrant who died as a result of asphyxia due to neck and torso compression–homicide committed by ICE agents–have received little to no mainstream media attention. This comes as no surprise as once again, not all of America’s children hold the same value. If ICE is comfortable killing White citizens in the street, what are they comfortable doing to the marginalized behind closed doors?
The nation is now visibly in shambles and this is not surprising. Those previously unaffected and even those only slightly affected chose complacency over fighting for the safety of their neighbor. It is only recently that I have noticed some–who were previously politically quiet–begin to voice their frustration and take action. For those who attempt to retain a moral and political neutrality amid the storm, please understand a faux-political stoicism does not protect you or your neighbors from the impacts of politics. To stand for nothing is as good as falling for everything.
When the son realizes that Saturn will soon devour him. He must understand, for his own survival, that the hand that feeds him is also the one that thirsts to feed on him–to bite the hand is a necessity.
