This is Ours.

These last few weeks have been devastating.  I find myself at extremes—on the verge of tears or boiling over with anger.  I do not understand the range of responses to the loss of human life.  I cannot understand the lack of civility, accountability and respect for the sanctity of human life, regardless of technicalities, action, inaction, past action, body size or skin color… 

But what has been most devastating is the silence.  The silence of my colleagues, my students, my profession….Never have I found so many of us with so little to say.  And while the silence may be benign, it certainly does not feel that way.  I cannot explain why the silence seems so deafening, so sinister, so dark, so loud, but it does.  The silence feels like indifference or defeat.  

And I understand that we are silent for so many reasons.  Because we aren’t ready to, aren’t sure how to, don’t want to talk about it.  Because we don’t want to offend, admit, deny, accept, acknowledge or be complicit in it. Because it’s complicated, nuanced, jumbled, overwhelming and there are just no clear solutions, resolutions or easy answers.  

But silence cannot be the answer, especially not for us.  

This is ours.  We create it, sustain it, perpetuate this system.  We are not outsiders, on the periphery, the borders, or the edge.  We are in the belly of the beast; we are the beast.  We are in it, we are it.  It is us.  This is ours.  And so it is our responsibility to act, to fix, to change, to remedy.  How? There is no clarity here, the path undefined, hazy.  But we start by owning it.  This is ours.   We own it and we march.  We talk, we debate, we blog, we discuss, we bring it to light – in forums, in conferences, on the news, individually, in the classroom – we are unceasing.  We use our tools:  facts, precedent, policy and logic.  We.Do.Not.Stop. Because this is ours.