Invite Hope

Three and a half years ago I was moved to write for the first in my life. I walked the streets of Washington DC to welcome a president that openly insulted my students and their families. Yet, I was inspired by the hope that resonated from my students and their belief in this country, despite the negative rhetoric. The National Mall spoke to me as I toured the city. America’s past seemed to come alive and challenge me. At the end of the first day in DC, I wrote down these words. 

REMEMBER THE DREAM OUR FOREFATHERS HAD. REMEMBER THE STRUGGLES OF OUR MOST VULNERABLE GROUPS. REMEMBER THOSE WHO FOUGHT TO PROTECT THAT DREAM. THE DREAM IS YOURS. DEFEND IT!

I titled that reflection Hope and Fear. I hoped that our country would come together to fight against divisions that were rising. I hoped that all our struggles in the past would guide us in the path forward. However, I was also fearful. I worried that divisive rhetoric would build barriers between us. I worried that those of us living the dream would be too scared or too cowardly to share it. I worried that fear would win out over hope. 

Last weekend, it did. Hope has been chased down and murdered while out on a jog. It’s been betrayed while walking in the park. It’s been asphyxiated while gasping for air.  

Fear has done these things to Hope, and now Fear is on the loose. Hope tries to protest, but Fear shows up and starts a fire. Hope makes a speech, but Fear fires back with a Tweet. Hope tries to protect peaceful protesters, but Fear breaks windows and Hope is spread too thin. 

Let’s go back to my words from three and a half years ago. “The dream is yours. Defend it!” This is where Hope and Fear disagree. This is at the heart of the struggle between Hope and Fear. Who’s dream is it? Who is we? 

This dream is not static. That’s what makes it a dream. The dream that started with our Forefathers was tainted in the blood of African Slaves and Native American massacres. But the slaves won their freedom. Natives, once massacred, have contributed greatly to this country. Hope. For years the dream was denied to women and countless other groups. Women were burned at the stake. It was more than one hundred years before they were granted the right to vote. Imigration acts have excluded. Discrimination in many forms has run rampet. Yet, these groups etched their way into our fabric and have become America. Hope. Fear has seethed on these shores before, but Hope held on to fight another day.

Hope believes that the dream is fluid. Hope believes that it belongs to us all. Hope may not understand how we get there but that’s why it is Hope. It believes in what it can’t see. Hope knows that Fear is the only thing that the dream must be protected from. One person or group of people cannot threaten the dream. Only Fear can.     

           

Maya Angelo once said, “Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.” In our storied history, there have been many times when fear was invited to stay. However, it’s never stayed long enough to dash all hope. We can’t let that happen now! Not on our watch! 

I challenge us, America. Invite hope to stay. 

How? You ask. How can I be hopeful in the midst of a pandemic that has killed 100,000 Americans and is still raging? How can I be hopeful when our cities are burning and our shopping centers are boarded up or destroyed?     

I’ll give you two reasons to hope.  

First, Christian Cooper believed in the NYPD. When Amy Cooper (no relation) a White woman in Central Park threatened to call the cops because an African American man was threatening her, he encouraged her. He was confident justice would be served. He chose hope over fear. Two hundred years ago, Christian would have been her slave. He still bears the slave name. One hundred years ago, he would have been lynched. Amy weaponized this history, but it didn’t work. Hope. In fact, her weaponizing of this history has cost her, her job and humiliation. Christian believed in the NYPD. The police are not perfect but if Christian believes in them, there is hope. 

Second, the murder of George Floyd has sparked outrage. Millions of African Americans were murdered during slavery. In the century following, thousands were lynched. In my lifetime, hundreds more were unjustly killed by the police. Yet, this level of outrage is new. This should not invoke fear. It should invoke hope. History says, George Floyd is just another murdered Balck man but our country is saying no. Hope!

Our president is trying to divide us by simplifying and downplaying a legitimate uprising. He is weaponizing our historical fears and even our religious beliefs to divide us. His is pitting our rights granted by the Constitution against what he calls “Law and Order”. That is what he does. However, one man cannot threaten the dream. Only fear can. We must invite hope to stay. 

We invite hope to stay by believing in the police like Christian Cooper does. These men and women are our neighbors, friends, and family members. They are not the enemy. Fear is. We must hold them accountable but we must not fear them, and they must not fear us. For every rioter there are thousands of peaceful protesters. For every violent police officer there are thousands risking their life to keep the peace. Hope.  

We invite hope to stay by continuing to be outraged at the death of George Floyd and other African Americans before him. It’s easy to watch the news or look on social media and be fearful. But why should we be fearful? Rather, we should be fearful of a future where an unarmed man can be killed on video by the police with no fallout. That is a country without hope. A country that rises up in the light of this injustice, is a country with hope. Hope!     

Generations had come before us with seeming insurmountable tasks to overcome. Fear shook them to their core, but in the end, hope prevailed. If we invite hope to stay, it will prevail again.   

    

REMEMBER THE DREAM OUR FOREFATHERS HAD. REMEMBER THE STRUGGLES OF OUR MOST VULNERABLE GROUPS. REMEMBER THOSE WHO FOUGHT TO PROTECT THAT DREAM. THE DREAM IS YOURS. DEFEND IT!