A look at society's collective toxic relationship with self that is leading to a slow, violent, global suicide with genocide as its weapon of choice.
This genocide is a humanitarian crisis. Let me put that another way. This genocide is a human crisis. The world can seem so big. I am sitting in a library right now, in Houston, TX a world away --- my Palestinian brothers and sisters are being massacred. That alone is a mind-fuck.
Algorithms don't like it when your curse. It's one of the gentle massages that the machine has made in an attempt to lead us towards a kinder world. But as my little brother would say, "What does it matter if you say 'shoot' if you mean that same thing as when you say 'shit'." I'm not here to conjure that debate, because like all philosophical banter, that conversation can last a lifetime. But this is shit. What is happening in the world right now is fucking shit.
With all this beauty and technology, we are still killing ourselves. But thats ok as long as you say shoot, instead of shit.
I'm no stranger to suicidal ideation, I've experienced it non-consecutively for most of my adult life. So understanding that we are all God's people and created equally under our Creator with certain unalienable rights and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness--- I kept swirling around the same thought on a micro to macro-cosmic level:
Genocide is to Humanitarian Crisis as Suicide is to Human Crisis.
(Who said you'd never use those SAT skills?)
As a human I had to face my suicidal ideation; as a humanitarian I had to address my urge to kill. I'm a radical, humanist, abolitionist, black woman part of my existence is to continually liberate myself and others. I haven't shuttered at the word terrorist since I read, When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Cullors. After reading that book I realized that the word terrorist itself is a weapon. A powerful weapon. A weapon that just allowed for millions of Gazans to lose their God-given, beautiful, important, unique, necessary lives. When a terrorist dies the people cheer, when children die the world cries...so how is it that fighting terrorists somehow became slaughtering children?
The age of The War on Terror, which we are no doubt still in, is having the same effect as The War on Drugs.
Genocide. Suicide.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.” Revelation 22:21
For Abbie Hoffman, thank you brother.