"This Is Where I Stand" - Janne Robinson

 

I’ve felt really bothered by anyone not standing up right now to be a voice for the violence, oppression and hate ripping through our planet. I’ve lost trust and respect for anyone I follow who hasn’t used their platform to say, “this is where I stand.”

Last week my privilege smacked me in the face. Because I’ve been the person who hasn’t thought it’s my “responsibility” as a poet or artist to speak about politics. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention here’s a recap of world events that happened in January:

1) On Jan 8th and 9th 30,000 people in Iran took to the streets to stand up against the incredibly oppressive Islamic regime. They were first advocating for their economy, and then it shifted into an outcry for human rights. The government instituted a near-total internet and communication blackout during this period and proceeded to kill 30,000+ people in 48 hours. The black out was to conceal the scale of the violence. The last time this many people were killed was the Babyn Yar Massacre in 1941: Over two days, September 29–30, 1941, German Einsatzgruppen and collaborators murdered over 33,000 Jews at a ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine.

2) ICE has been not only detaining “illegal” immigrants but also people here seeking asylum legally, people who are permanent residents. Extreme violence has been to happen to any non-white people — black, native, Indian. Anyone without white skin. Renee Good + Alex Pretti was killed by ICE agents protecting and standing up for what’s morally just and right.

There have been accounts of rape in these detention centers in exchange for mothers being able to see their children by ICE agents. Inhumane conditions with rotten food and people getting sick and denied medical care (war tactics also used by Hitler).

A man who was a caretaker for his son with disabilities was detained and because he was unable to communicate with the outside world — his son died, and when he asked for permission to attend the funeral it was denied. Anne Frank didn’t die in a gas chamber — she died because of the conditions of her concentration camp.

3) Innocent people are still being killed in Gaza. What is occurring in Gaza has never been justified and never will be justified. You do not hold innocent people accountable for the actions of a specific group of people inside of a country. It is not a country that gets held accountable — it is the people who have committed crimes of hate that live within a country that need to be.

4) Russia is still at war with Ukraine. They’re currently cutting out electricity because it’s winter (war tactic). And everyone’s hands are tied because if anyone acts there will be a world war. Meanwhile a completely unjustified and incomprehensible war is happening to innocent people in Ukraine.

5) 300k black women in Brazil marched against racism GBV (Gender based violence). Sexual Violence is often used as a tactic and weapon of war. Rape and sexual assault are deliberately employed by armed forces and groups to terrorize, demoralize, and humiliate civilian populations. It’s a systemic war tactic being used from Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia to contemporary conflicts in the DRC, Syria, and Ukraine.

6) The president has withdrawn from the United Nations including funding and stated that “he doesn’t believe in peace.” The Epstein Files contain not just sexual abuse, but murder and cannibalism and likely hundreds if not thousands of innocent children and lives and no one has been held accountable or put in jail.

He has also been posting racist things about the Obamas, which alone should be enough to remove him from the chat. We have felons, sociopaths and pedophiles in charge of some of the biggest choices of our country.

So — I don’t care about your morning routine. And I don’t care about your regular content.

This is a unique moment in time, and your values are showing and people are paying attention. I care about how you act when someone you will never know is treated. I care about your empathy, compassion and your courage for the people outside of your immediate community. I care about your ability to believe that humanity, equality and dignity are non-negotiable values.

-Janne Robinson