Upon reflection, I will not be silent

At a recent team meeting, someone asked how we can support one another as the tides turn and phrases like "Chinese Virus" make their way around.

I will admit that at first, I didn’t think much about it and maybe have been focused elsewhere.  To this I apologize. I might have thought too much about the geography of things and not paid too much attention to the analogies to Spanish flu or West Nile virus.  To this I apologize as well.

I have heard that some are experiencing racist attacks and racial slurs following it.

I apologize because I should have known better.

I am of the generation that saw the coming of AIDS and then too, there was an active drive to name it the “Homosexual Disease.” Unfortunately it stuck and thereby ostracized a swath of human being, as in “it is their fault and they had it coming.”  Putting them aside, abandoning them instead of helping them.  That was wrong, and unfortunately it took many years for that community to unravel that stigma.  Only 10 years later the movie Philadelphia was made.  10 years for the global awareness of the human toll to reach more broadly and acknowledge it.  10 years.

I should have known better.

I should have known better that, when you actively strike the term coronavirus on speech notes and replace it in sharpie with Chinese, it wasn’t just to refer to some geographical nature of the epidemic.  In truth, it isn’t really about unintended or intended consequences to a specific ethnic group.  The act is really about trying to absolve oneself of any responsibilities.  To simply deflect onto others and appeal to our worse.

I apologize because I should have known better.

Earlier in my life, I walked by a monument in Boston that had a quote from post World War 2. It was from a German Lutheran Pastor. At the time it hit me very hard and it stuck with me very vividly till today.  Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia, 

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

I should have known better that silence always caries consequences.  The biggest one being the consequence to yourself. I am not mad at the one who struck the term coronavirus and replaced it with Chinese, I am mad at myself because I did not speak out.

I should have known better.

This is not a time to absolve ourselves of anything, this is a time to rise to our better selves.  If I can partly abuse and rephrase Mr. Rogers, this is a time to look at the helper in us.