The fears of a black child in Chicago who has to sleep at night with gunshots ricocheting in her ears are linked to the tears of a white child in Chattanooga who goes to bed hungry. A Democrat father in a “blue state” who has to work multiple jobs to feed his family is experiencing the same anxieties as a Republican mother in a “red state” who is forced to seek welfare in order to provide for her children. In a country that is blessed with an abundance of resources and human ingenuity, the only reason we have such high rates of poverty and economic uncertainties is because too many have been convinced that others who struggle like them are their foes instead of realizing that we are all in the same leaky boat together.
I did not always realize how dissension among the populous was actually the leading factor that contributes to the “gridlock in DC” which in turn makes social progress all but impossible. There was a time when I was as divisive as they came as I bashed Republican voters and collectively judged all white people for the ills of the world. It wasn’t until I became homeless in 2015 and saw first-hand how inequality and injustice transcends the socio-political divides and comes for all irrespective of our differences that I shed my tribal blinders and became determined to stand and speak up for our common humanity...continued...
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