“Where the light gets in”:
A Message for Northern Ireland this Week.
I’ve been thinking recently about what to write in this blog post, given the unprecedented and violent attacks on innocent minorities throughout Belfast this week.
Shops. Houses. Cars. Buses. All on fire.
Is this who we are?
I remember it wasn’t that long ago a friend of mine told me that racism here is finally healing, and that whole 'vibe' was just a shadow from the past, living in people’s heads, and it was time to move on. But you can’t move on, unless you really address the bedrock of collective beliefs, especially in a small country, and this week, many have crawled out of the woodwork to show that the foundations of our society are still rotten.
There is a saying by Coretta Scott King that goes, ”It doesn’t matter how strong your opinions are, if you don’t use them for positive change, you are indeed part of the problem", and this week, I hang my head in shame that one human’s evil irrevocable actions, have begotten hundreds of similar actions, claiming justification.
One disgusting act has gotten many of our supposed civilised community to mirror evil and call it justice.
I am aware there are financial, governmental, and economic problems here. I know of the fear of an unvetted 'immigrant crisis’, and yet what I can’t acknowledge is that some of our community have taken this disdain and placed it, illegitimately, into ordinary hard -working people’s lives, not because they have done anything unforgivable, but because they have been failed by our government and judged by their skin.
Rage does not burn down evil, it feeds it. We should know this from experience.
The only way to move forward is to see through the eyes of a child. Children do not begin life with hatred and division, they learn it. If we show them any other way than respecting one another now, they too will grow up in fear and separation. It is this very separation that ALLOWS the most heinous crimes like the ones we have witnessed, to thrive.
Soultrane would like to invite you to stand against any and all abuse of innocent people, lest we repeat every hate crime throughout history that keeps us from our peace. We deserve peace.
No crime is ever forged in love, it is always hate, masking as retribution.
If you want to direct your worries, direct them into ways that will solve them. Ways that unite the country, not tear it from us. Despite hateful agendas, we can be brave in the courage of unity, because in division, we are powerless, and powerlessness is the root of the acts we have seen this week.
It’s closing down our schools, it’s creating ghosts on our streets, and it is ruining peace in our homes.
Let’s teach each other by demonstration that harm in all of its forms will no longer be tolerated here, because what we have here, is a consciousness problem. And it’s time to wake up, because no good has ever come from staying asleep while the world burns.
The tree does not try to defeat the one next to it in the forest, even if it presents as different, it knows that the ecosystem is needed for us all to thrive. With all due respect, let’s not be less aware than a tree! It’s time to grow up and change as a nation. To direct our sorrow at the cause, to the lack of policies that do not have well-being, the people or sustainable growth at the forefront, instead of mindlessly attacking anyone we can find who is in a weaker position.
And luckily, this week, I have seen some of that compassion I know we have, from friends and strangers reaching through the strangled cracks in our streets and bravely saying, "We don’t want this."
Let’s be encouraged by that.
For those looking to fight and cause destruction, know that it is you that are the minority, and that love will win eventually because it is a much more beautiful force than the shadow that’s being cast right now.
I believe that the sun will come up, and the shadows will fade. Until then, stay safe, stay in the power of your humanity and do whatever small good you can.
