Colonize or Die

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If you ask most white Americans, they will tell you that this is the greatest country in the world. That this is the pinnacle of Democracy and that ALL AMERICANS ARE EQUAL. But then you have to remind them that BLACK LIVES MATTER, SCIENCE IS REAL, WOMEN DESERVE EQUAL RIGHTS, LOVE IS LOVE, and a lot of other memes and elevator pitches.

If we genuinely believe that freedom is such a beautiful thing, why do we impose our beliefs and force archaic rules on people who have every right to live as they please? Why is it okay to take another’s freedom away to conquer and colonize? To take away their freedom to force them to be like us, or worse yet, carry the belief that different is less than and then act accordingly.

White people claim all that isn’t ours. We offer nothing but misery and exploitation in return. Those affected by this greed lose their history, future, and present – all because some rich white men want more than they’ve ever earned. Tromping over whatever stands in their way, demanding that others colonize or die every single time they “explore.”

This notion of conquering and forcing others to bow to the confines of one man’s belief is archaic and as old as time. But, it doesn’t have to continue. We have more intelligence and data at our fingertips than at any other time in history. We must learn about all of the things that make us unique and reminding ourselves that different is not less than. We need to learn how to appreciate a culture without absorbing it and bastardizing it to fit our wants and make it ours. There is nothing wrong with a melting pot, but when a culture is destroyed and co-opted by a group for the sole purpose of destroying that culture and forcing others into a submissive pose to angry mediocre white men.

I have traveled and moved around a lot; between being in a military family, marrying a Submariner, and living full-time in a motorhome since 2007, I have had many addresses. I believe that you can never see enough of the world. Once you think you’ve seen enough of it, hopefully, you realize that your hometown is no different from my hometown. We are all humans, and we need our tribes.  However, basing your tribe on ignorant shit like where you live or what you look like doesn’t help any of us.

There has to come a time, soon, I hope, when the belief that you are a better human being because you are YOU and others should aspire to be like you will universally be considered a cruel and ignorant way to look at the world. Until then, I’ll keep fighting the good fight and trying to show others that ALLY is, in fact, a verb.