20190722_074621

this is one of Emrie's favorite friends.  Their name is Purple.

My grand children are mixed.  Biracial.  Half Black,   half  White.  Emrie,  my BeLov~ed Emrie is multiracial.  Half her mixed mother, half her father who is of  El Salvadoran people.  Emrie's mother,  my Alyssia,  has a spanish last name;  her marriage to her son Julian's father who is of Puerto Rican people.  Emrie carries her father's spanish last name.  Emrie and Alyssia are brown skinned.  We are all American.

We are all American.

I am stunned that i am writing that,  twice,  now  3 times,  We are all American.

on the weekend,  Alyssia and Emrie will fly to visit Emrie's father and his family of many Aunts and cousins,  a grandma.  To Texas.  To the state where the child cages are.  And i am afraid.  Things happen in airports nowdays.  and I understand that probably half of the population of these United States don't mind.  I am not afraid of Trump.  He is almost beside the point.  I am afraid because i understand that probably half of my fellow citizens don't mind.  My lifelong drift in white privilege is over.

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24 responses to “stand and face”

  1. Mo Crow Avatar

    (((Grace))) these are such heavy dark days for our beautiful broken world, we all have to look out for each other and shine on like crazy diamonds!

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  2. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    Grace for ALL of the Time you and I have walked on this Earth there have been people who hated anyone who was different. I couldn’t let my parents know my college room mate and best friend was black. She couldn’t come and visit me in Georgia where I lived after getting married. Couldn’t stay in my house. G and I went to her house in Ohio. Made her very nervous so we never did it again.
    Nothing has changed except the man in the White House who is now saying–no brown people. Out loud so we can all hear him. I will worry along with you until your beloved grand daughter and great grand daughter are back home safe with you.

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  3. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    First of all, blessings on this day of Alyssia’s birth and Happy Birthday.
    Re Trump: Almost but not beside the point because HE has willingly, disgustingly created the climate that says it is ok to not mind what is going on in Texas, in New Mexico, in places all across this country where by the color of our skin, we are singled out and told that we are less than…WE ARE NOT…We make up this country called AMERICA, the UNITED STATES…
    Wish that you could go with Alyssia and Emrie and meet the Tias (Aunties), the primos and primas (Cousins), the Abuela (Grandmother.) They would simply love you, Emrie’s, BisAbuela (great grandmother.)

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  4. dee Avatar

    Thinking of you and your beautifully complex family with love and in solidarity.

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  5. Liz A Avatar

    It is a bitter irony that we, as white people, have the privilege of being able to question our privilege, but not the ability to renounce it …

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  6. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    It all makes my heart ache .. scares me that so many think that the color of their skin is what makes them American. Shame on them!
    Sending your loved ones prayerful travel Blessings.

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  7. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Just realized that I’m a day late in the birthday blessing so belated Feliz Cumpleanos (Happy Birthday) Alyssia.

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  8. grace Forrest Avatar

    question is….How do we shine on

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  9. grace Forrest Avatar

    i am looking very deeply at all this. everywhere i can.
    WHAT IS HAPPENING
    i understand prejudice.
    This is something different. it is prejudice with
    Power behind it.

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  10. grace Forrest Avatar

    i wish i could go too. Maybe next year they will come here. What an event that would be!
    when they went last year, Emrie so little, it was grand.
    So much a celebration for her. So much cooking.
    This time, so different, because Emrie knows things and is READY for things. They will Love her and she will Love them. yes. i wish i could see it. Alyssia will tell me
    all of it.

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  11. grace Forrest Avatar

    solidarity.
    in solidarity.

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    we can. renounce. by Action.

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  13. grace Forrest Avatar

    i think of the word detain. They could be detained, for no
    reason other than color and surname. Detained, separated even, for no reason other than color and surname.

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  14. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    I agree with Marti that I wish you could go with Alyssia and Emerie and meet all her lovely extended family. It is much harder when you are separated from them and are filled with worry. Imagining the worse because of what we have all seen these last few years. I don’t know how to shine either. I don’t know how we can stop bleeding.
    I don’t know anyone who doesn’t mind. I also don’t know anyone who knows what to do to make this stop.

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  15. Mo Crow Avatar

    awareness, education, empathy

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  16. Michelle Slater Avatar

    How do we absorb but not be drowned by the terrible terrible facts of our world. Detach, meditate, do tonglin, agitate, report and refute what’s wrong. They have Identification and will be fine I think and hope. You just keep on keeping on with what is essential until they return. I will light a candle too dear one.

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  17. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Action in the form of a 4 letter word that has never been so important- VOTE

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    in a way, this is a good thing for me. it brought
    the reality of it all directly TO me…changing
    the sense of urgency.

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  19. grace Forrest Avatar

    as i said above to Jaime, this has shifted things
    for me. Yes, they most likely will be fine, but
    the reality is that it is a possibility they
    could not. I have never had to face that possibility
    before. Even that they could be “detained” for
    moments or hours, just the thought of the possibility
    of that….

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  20. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    A reporter found one girl in the detention camps-holding her passport. Her American passport. Showing it to the reporter.

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  21. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    They got her released.

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  22. Saskia Avatar

    as a child i longed to be dark skinned, have always found this to be so very beautiful, it took me a while to realize not everyone thought the same
    under the skin we are all the same
    but this is beside the point here, i am (with) you

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  23. Saskia Avatar

    purple looks like a real nice friend

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