History | Memory | Genocide
There Is a Season (Turn, Turn, Turn). This Is It. Do Something!
Am I a witness to a rerun of every previous annihilation of humans? Or is this the season I stop the replay and join the human race in action toward a happily ever after?
One thousand two hundred people were killed in October 2023.
The heart-wrenching cries of families desperately seeking the return of over 200 loved ones kidnapped and held hostage invaded my eyes and ears.
I feel anxious when I tune into the words of their leader using non-human terms to describe wiping out the souls born to God on the other side of this human-drawn border.
The mental imagery is haunting — thousands of innocent children are caught in the crossfire or even deliberately targeted, and they have died. They continue to die.
In the recesses of my mind — no, in the forefront of my mind, the weight of this unfolding tragedy whispers, ‘This is a slaughter. A genocide.’ Isn’t it?
The gravity of the situation pulls me into a deep reflection, and I can’t escape the feeling that a vast blanket of complacency is descending upon us all — on me. It wraps around silencing dissent and numbing our collective conscience.
Still, I wrestle against it.
My spirit resists the suffocating texture of that metaphorical blanket. My eyebrows knot with concern as I turn to gaze out the window, searching for answers in the outside world. I look and see you, dear reader.
The pressing question lingers, ‘What should I do?’
My whole being (the world) needs more than prayers — intervention, action and compassion toward all.
Today.
Today, I will write some, read more, and share everything. Please help raise awareness of the current situation, dear reader. It will propel us all towards a different, better end.
We should do something, yes? Let’s try, America.
© Scarlet Ibis James, 2023: All Rights Reserved.
Postscript: Is It Too Late For Christmas Songs?
“Shall I play for you | Pa rum pum pum pum.”
Perhaps a cartoon boy is more human? Do you see him? (John)
“Yet in thy dark streets shineth | The everlasting Light” (of aerial bombs) (Shanté Nixon)
“Do you see what I see?” (Human Beings) (Johnny Silvercloud)
This is Not Our First Noel
“The hopes and fears of all the years | Are met in thee tonight.”
“No more lives torn apart | That wars would never start.”
This playbook has been used for decades. It is effective at its stated goal: for the world to remain silent when a formerly oppressed people oppresses another group through violence, humiliation, degradation, and coercion. We watch as this formerly oppressed minority unleashes the very same tactics and tools that ushered its own annihilation. — Garrick McFadden