I grew up in a community where we are raised with the belief that we should never discuss politics or religion with our friends and family, or with anyone for that matter. Not because it was a forbidden thing, or something that we didn’t understand, but because if you talk about that, you express your opinion, and if you express your opinion, those who do not share the same beliefs will get furious and probably never look at you the same way.
But as I grew older (and a little wiser, hopefully), I realized that our voice is the only thing we have. As a woman from a minority, or as just a woman, our voice is something that our mothers and grandmothers and the mothers of our grandmothers fought really, really hard to have.
It was not more than 100 years ago when women could not vote, get equal pay or be journalists without restriction.
So, when someone tells me to please delete my Facebook posts because I am making people uncomfortable with my beliefs of equality, I just delete them. Not the posts, obviously, but the people, and not only from Facebook but from my life.
They say they want to make America great again. They support little babies put in cages.
They support and even cheer when babies died in ICE custody, because, apparently, that’s what they get for coming into our country illegally.” Well, apparently, they do not know that seeking asylum is completely legal.
I am an immigrant. I haven’t been here for more than 10 years, yet this country feels like a home to me, even if my mom still lives across the Rio Grande.
Why should I not use my voice to express my anger toward the system we are living under today? Why should I stay quiet to not make people angry? Why should I stay quiet when there are people dying to come to the country I once dreamed of coming to.
Why are we raised to never talk about politics? Who invented that “rule”?
I can’t help but think that some white, entitled man invented that rule. Not because I hate men, because I don’t, seriously. But because as we, women and minorities, raise our voices, we get more powerful and so do those whom we represent. As our voices get higher and higher, the voices of those who are now in power get weaker and weaker.
So, they want to make America great again. But, when was it ever great?
OK, I understand that for white men, yes, it was awesome when they held 100 percent of corporate jobs (or all jobs that did not include being a nurse or teacher). Yes, it was awesome when women could not get a divorce from them; yes, it was awesome when women could not vote; yes, it was awesome when they were the only people in Congress. But for us, there has never been a greater time.
We have never been more represented in Congress, we have never held more corporate jobs than we do now; yes, we still have the huge glass ceiling, but it has never been more cracked than it is now.
Thank you, Nancy Pelosi, Sheryl Sandberg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Veronica Escobar, Ilhan Omar and many more women whom I cannot name because then this column would turn into a book.
Thank you for teaching us that we can be whatever the hell we want to be, even if we talk about politics and religion.
