Why I have hope.

It is hard to see, but there is hope.

Photo by Rosie Kerr on Unsplash

Yesterday, I received a concerned email from a group that I will be speaking to in a few weeks. One of their members had seen a recent talk I gave in Tucson, Arizona. He commented that I gave a bleak outlook for the future of the U.S. and stated that I left him with no hope. While that does sound like my talks and writings, I recall intentionally ending that event with what should be done and the reason why I now have hope. This concerned email and subsequent phone call helped me realize that my message of hope was not being heard.

Lately, I often find myself struggling to write because there is too much. This is largely due to the fact that we are constantly inundated with horrible news. Our economy is in a shambles because of tariffs and the chainsaw taken to government staffing and programs. Immigration agents are gunning down Americans for filming them beating and kidnapping people. Our military is running around on the border engaging in civilian policing in violation of the law. The Department of Justice is refusing to investigate or charge anyone in the largest sex trafficking honey trap network ever known simply because the president is “allegedly” involved. We are still blowing up small boats claiming they are full of drugs while fentanyl continues streaming into the country. Millions have lost their health insurance. Oh, and yesterday, the “peace” president started a new war.

So, how is it in all of this that I, the one who is nearly perpetually without hope, have found hope?

My entire life, I have watched those in power claim to be operating in the best interests of their voters. And for most of my life, I believed them. I’ve watched republicans claim they cared about women and children, national security, family values and life. I watched the democrats claim they were working for families, immigrants, communities of color, healthcare, women’s rights, etc. Once elected though, both sides have done whatever it took to put money and power back in their own pockets, constituents be damned. The same promises are made over and over again, because little progress is made when neither party has to work hard to get elected in a two-party system.

This is one of the reasons why every election is the same rehashing of old problems. Our leaders are not in the business of progressing and solving these issues and are in fact, more closely aligned than they would like you to believe. Republicans are in the business of using these issues to create divisiveness to gain power. Democrats are in the business of not offering any alternatives other than to say, “At least we are not those guys.”

I recall after the last presidential election, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) had stated that many of her voters also voted for Trump. When she asked those who voted this way to explain why, they stated it was because both AOC and Trump wanted to tear down the institutional systems that have been oppressing people. That got me to thinking about the destruction of these institutions in a different light. Being that I am nearing my senior years, the thought of no healthcare or social security is frightening to me. At the same time, many years watching this intentional stalemate has made me realize the systems in place are used by leaders to keep themselves in power and further enrich themselves. Worse, they are using these systems to hurt their own constituents. They have turned the systems meant to protect Americans against them. This realization brings me more in line with what AOC’ voters were saying; burn it all down.

Today, in an argument claiming to keep women safe, American women and girls are being forced through these systems to carry their rapists’ babies. Today, some of those women and girls will die because of this forced servitude. Today under national security arguments, immigrant families with no criminal convictions are being torn apart and sent to a system of concentration camps. Today, under fraud arguments seniors are going hungry because billionaires need another dollar. Today, disease runs rampant because quacks run the healthcare system. Today, our water, air and food are contaminated because the regulations and oversight systems are gone. Today, tear gas that is illegal to use on other countries is being used in American cities on American citizens by immigration enforcement agencies because people are blowing whistles. Today, in America’s justice system you cannot be held over 48 hours for suspicion of committing murder, but you can be held indefinitely if they think you are committing a civil immigration infraction of being undocumented. Someone please make that make sense. Today under the national security systems we are at war with Iran over possible nuclear weapons that Trump claimed to have “obliterated” last year.

Looking back over the last decade of Trump, I cannot help but focus on what could have been. We could have passed equal rights for women in that time. We could have designed and implemented a universal healthcare system like every other modern democratic society. We could have had an economic boom by changing our infrastructure from being oil reliant to clean energy. We could have addressed climate change. We could have created a humane asylum system that still maintained national security. We could have made a deal with Iran or at least not torn up the deal Obama made.

Instead we have spent the last decade arguing over Trump’s draconian policies, whether or not he is really racist and exactly how many accusations of rape and convictions for sexual abuse does it take before he can be disqualified to lead the country. Instead of equal rights, women and girls had their rights stripped. Our healthcare system is on its last legs and even those with coverage cannot afford treatment. We are still hopelessly polluting our environment because we are still addicted to oil. Our infrastructure continues to crumble. We are pretending that our planet is not getting hotter by the year even while it is in the 90s in February where I live, and each year sees more extreme hurricanes and floods. Today the asylum system remains closed, the border is wide open and we are building a concentration camp system to hold people who are not charged with any crimes.

And yet, in this last decade of hopelessness, I have found hope.

I see hope in the fact that more Americans are hearing, seeing and accepting the truth of these systems. More and more can now see the abuses and inequalities heaped on the shoulders of women and girls. People see that other countries far less wealthy than our own have great universal healthcare and how easily it could be accomplished for a lot less than what we are doing now. They understand clean energy and how much better it is for our planet and our health. We recognize our infrastructure has been neglected and how ideas of how to remedy this abound. People are waking up and seeing the inequalities suffered by immigrants and those of color in our communities because of these systems.

In the immigration world I work in, I see immense progress in Americans’ opinions. I see voters finally starting to understand that democrats make promises but do not keep them, choosing instead to be just as brutal as their counterparts. I see conservative Americans realizing that they were lied to about the criminality of immigrants. I hear people starting to understand that the way we have allowed the immigration enforcement agencies to treat people coming to our borders is what is now allowing them to turn on citizens. Americans for the first time are seeing what these agents have been getting away with for generations on our borders, and they are starting to understand how unaccountable, corrupt and racist the agencies are.

I know a thing or two about change. Just over a decade ago, I no longer recognized the person I saw in the mirror. This change only occurred because I had hit rock bottom and could see my faults, where I had been and where I wanted to go. This kind of change requires consistent work. You must first identify the problems and be brutally honest with yourself. For me, that meant admitting my racism, my anger, my own culpability in all of it. It meant sitting with those I had harmed to understand the other side, the fuller picture. It meant recognizing how the systems of our society and institutions supported my prejudices and cruelty.

We as a country are close to hitting that rock bottom. This is a requirement if we are to achieve changes. It is an uncomfortable and painful journey, but it is the only way to the other side.

First, we cannot solve our problems unless we can identify and name them. Americans are now being forced outside of their comfort zones. They are in this moment forced to see and admit the failings of our leaders, our systems and in ourselves. The identifying and naming is an essential part of this journey. We can no longer remain comfortable in this ignorance whether intentional or not. Second, we must do the work to educate ourselves and each other on our culpability in this. We must understand how the systems enable oppression and brutality and how individuals use them for power and profit. Third, we need to decide what it is we want. If we want equality and justice for all, design and build it. If we really believe in the Constitution, enforce it. When individual and systems fail, we must demand accountability. Fourth, recognize that this is generational work. There is not one answer to fix all of our problems. The work we do now will be carried on with future generations.

In all of the chaos and brutality that is Trump during the last decade, it is this light upon the systems and the waking up of Americans across the political spectrum that gives me hope. But just as the fascists have spent generations working to tear down our systems and divide us, we must invest in doing generations worth of work to create what we want. We stand a better chance at creating this now than we did just a few years ago.