The past two weeks have been a whirlwind for us at The Voice. Not the good kind of whirlwind, however, where people unite behind a common cause (my mind immediately goes to the Thai boys that were trapped in cave this summer, whom the world rallied around), but rather it was the bad kind of whirlwind where sorrow, fear, and political divisions were only deepened and made more apparent.
In the past two weeks we saw Ceasar Sayoc’s attempted mail bombings on several high profile critics of President Trump, Robert Bowers’ ruthless and hate-filled act of anti-Semitic domestic terrorism in Pittsburgh, Gregory Bush’s fatal shooting of two African-Americans in Louisville, and President Trump’s incredibly racist and inflammatory new campaign ad that paints Central American migrants in broad brush strokes as cop killing criminals. There were many other distressing news stories from the past two weeks, but the ones I listed above are certainly the most damaging.
While it’s always important to be thinking about national politics, moments such as the one we’re in now stand out as particularly important. In this issue, we have pieces from Miles Hamberg, Max Whisnant, and Will Canellakis that all tackle recent events, and how Conn students are dealing with (or avoiding thinking about) the onslaught of tragedy we’ve seen. Disillusionment with the political process is pervasive among many young people across the nation, but I’m proud of the writers mentioned above for standing up in the face of apathy and encouraging their peers to be a part of the democratic process.
While it may seem like the United States is reaching a point of no return, and a shift towards far-right conservative rhetoric is becoming more widely accepted in national and local politics, my advice is to stay strong, support those close to you who are most vulnerable, and live your life to the fullest. Be vocal. Be loud. Be you. If you are, there’s no way those who seek to instigate hate can win.
What makes this country beautiful is its diversity. Just think about how terribly boring the United States would be without African-Americans, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, Jews, or Latinos. That’s not a country I want to live in.
As a student of history, and a Jew, the past two weeks have been incredibly hard for me to process. While racism and anti-Semitism have long been woven into the fabric of our society, it’s up to us, at an individual level, to stand up to bigotry. We have to come together and support each other because, to a white supremacist, there’s no difference between Jews, Muslims, or any other minority group. We cannot let their hate win out over our love for each other. They want to force us into the shadows, but we cannot let them.
– Max
