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Hey #Changemakers,
About 20 years ago, my parents immigrated from Iran because they were tired of corrupt politics and violence disrupting and consuming their lives. They wanted a stable country and a future with opportunities for their children, so like many others, they left everything they knew and loved behind for the hope of America.
On January 6, 2021, after a particularly tough year for everyone, including my family, I witnessed everything my parents valued about America come burning down. Stability, hope, equality, opportunity— I watched as all of the positive values that led my parents here over 20 years ago were actively under attack after enduring an administration that manifested this moment. As I came to understand the sacrifices my parents made, and how deeply sociopolitical issues can affect lives, I made sure I was an informed and involved citizen, knowing it’s a privilege not everyone has. However, I never expected it to consume my life in the way that it has in the past year.
For people with white privilege, you have the ability to disconnect yourself and your life from politics. To vote, wear shirts or buttons with cute slogans, celebrate your wins, and then move on when it’s over. You have the ability to see politics as something you can learn about or engage in for intellectual exercise, but not as something that fundamentally affects your life and future. Politics affects marginalized groups differently.
For immigrant families like mine, political decisions can affect whether or not my grandparents are able to continue visiting us every summer. It can affect whether or not my uncle can ever fulfill his lifelong dream of visiting America and seeing our family in person, not on FaceTime. It can affect whether my cousins have food on the table, due to American foreign policy and sanctions.
This is what the statement, “the personal is political” means to me. For many poor or unemployed Americans, debates in the Capitol affect whether they can make ends meet and feed their kids. For DACA recipients, it affects whether or not they can be deported from the country they grew up in. For the privileged, who see politics as a game, a debate, an avenue for their self-expression— ask yourself, would your views be any different if their outcomes actually impacted your daily life? What if political decisions affected things you take for granted, such as your ability to see your family or pay rent?
White Americans have taken Democracy for granted for way too long. Americans have become complacent and satisfied with the idea that life is fine and safe here, and the problems and threats are taking place overseas. They have come to accept elected officials spending their tax dollars without hesitation on defense, military, and police; while our schools go underfunded and children go hungry right here at home every day.
The America that we witnessed on January 6th and the America that my parents came to for refuge years ago are two entirely different places. It didn’t happen overnight, or even within the last 4 years. It happened by turning a blind eye to the problems brewing in our own backyards, while the threat of white supremacy slowly made its way to the Capitol. If we want to move forward as a stable Democracy that others can look to with the hope that my parents did, we need to remind our leaders of the morals and values that America is supposed to uphold. We must hold our elected officials accountable to first consider the people most affected before every decision they make.
In solidarity,
Parnia Razinobakht
Deeds Not Words, Digital Associate
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Freedom from violence
Reproductive autonomy
Economic opportunity
Equitable representation
