This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair. No place for self-pity. No need for silence. No room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.
-Toni Morrison
After the 2016 election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, Morrison wrote an essay, “Mourning for Whiteness”, published in the November 21, 2016 issue of The New Yorker. In it she argues that white Americans are so afraid of losing privileges afforded them by their race that white voters elected Trump in order to keep the idea of white supremacy alive.
-Wikipedia
If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.
–Baruch Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677), was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin born in Amsterdam, Dutch Republic.
Albert Einstein named Spinoza as the philosopher who exerted the most influence on his world view. A world view is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual’s or society’s knowledge, culture, and point of view.
-Wikipeda
History illustrates that mental, physical, emotional and spiritual differences have existed among human beings and human societies from the beginning of the human race.
Fear and it’s many manifestations, such as anger, hatred, and revenge have prevailed side-by-side with mankind’s evolution.
It is no wonder that in today’s world, Fear, once again, has raised it’s ugly head, causing turmoil, violence and extreme division among individuals, families, neighbors and countries, including ours.
As Toni Morrison believed, when the time is ripe, as it is now, people of every race, creed and culture must work together to prevent fear and those who weaponize it from subverting and controlling the rights and freedoms of all humankind.
Some leaders and governments have already achieved this goal; others are laying plans to join them.
The words of Baruch Spinoza are as relevant today as when he stated them nearly four centuries ago: if we strive to change the present, we must learn from the past.
Do not be silenced…not in word or action.
Do not be afraid.