Hypocrisy

I usually don't write about politics. But what happened last week wasn't politics, and I felt a need to respond to an opinion that began to circulate through the news. This is what I wrote.

About a week ago, our nation's capital was stormed by rioters and terrorists. They broke down barricades, overwhelmed an understaffed police force, and ran ramshackle through the capitol. They stole souvenirs, took photos, and for a good few hours, forced the house and senate to evacuate and pause the certification of last year's election. Five people died, including one police officer, but it could have been a lot worse. Much worse.

Naturally, everyone has something to say about this atrocity, and I've seen a lot of rhetoric on Twitter and in the news about how America is better than this.

No, we're not.

America is and always has been a country based on hypocrisy.

Our country was founded by those who fled persecution, only to persecute the natives already here. Our Declaration of Independence proclaimed equal, unalienable rights while our Constitution relegated slaves to 3/5 a human. We teach our kids about Ellis Island, how America is the land of opportunity, while at our borders, we imprison hopefuls, separate them from their families, and vilify their image. We preach democracy while installing dictators who give us great oil prices and call athletes traitors for kneeling when "patriots" are breaking windows in our nation's capital.

So no, forgive me when I say that America is not better than this. 

However, America can be better, and that is what matters.

Yes, there are millions of problems facing this country, most of them related. There is privilege and income inequality, racism and police brutality, all during a pandemic when 12.6 million* people are unemployed. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our healthcare is one of the most expensive in the world, and climate change is only getting worse.

Despite all this, I believe that America can get through it. Because the foundation is still there. The freedom of speech, the diversity, the ability to fight for what is right. The ability to point out something is on fire without repercussion.

This is still the country where a young boy from Akron, Ohio, living alone with a single mother, can make it to the top of his sport and leverage his skills into billions of dollars and opportunities for thousands of kids.

It's where a bartender from New York can become the youngest women to ever be elected to congress, and an immigrant from Somalia become one of the first Muslim women to do the same.

This is still the land of Alexander Hamilton; where a poor boy from the tropics can write his way to the highest levels of government and help found a new country, and it's the land where 300 years later, a young Puerto Rican playwright can create one of the best-selling musicals of all time based on his story with a cast primarily consisting of Black, Latino, and Asian American actors.

Are the chances of making it the same? No. Absolutely not. My sisters are going to have to fight just to make as much as their male colleagues. Entire communities have been set back years by racist urban policies and mass incarceration. Racism, sexism, xenophobia all are real barriers to people getting opportunities in this country. Many have started well behind the starting line. That shouldn't be. That's the first thing we should fix.

America is not better than this. This is how it has always been, and we have many a crime to atone for.

Humbled as we are, America can be better, though, and that is what will make all the difference. This is still where one can work hard and strike gold, where progress can be made despite what is seen on social media. We need to make access to this dream equal, but it's still there. 

It's going to be a long road and hard work, but we can get there. We can get there, and we will.

*As of September of 2020