Dear Khodayar, this country that you came to looking for
peace and safety has a violent and racist past. Now we re-enact that violence
and racism in the present on people like you – the people of the road fleeing
unthinkable misfortune. Our false slogans of humanity are both to strangle our
own guilt and to harm your spirit. It is not just you bodies that we lock away
from freedom but we also stuff your minds with lies and filth. We can not admit
what we do to you so we deny the reality of your enslavement. We can not bear
your weakness and vulnerability so we blacken your names and demean you. We can
not bring ourselves to embrace our sisters and brothers so we deny your
humanity and take away your voices.
You know all this Khodayar. This is what you lived and died,
and this is what you taught to me. You bore witness to this crime that is being
done by us. This was a difficult thing to do and I congratulate you. This crime
that is decried in history books yet made afresh each day. Love Stephen
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