Growing up as a person of color in the U.S. is difficult. There are shared difficulties between all people in this country, but it definitely feels like there are two different worlds within its boundaries. I don’t blame any specific person for what they believe in. It has become a lot better than it was in the past. Holy crap, was it bad in the past.
As Centralia has grown through the years, so has the diversity in the town. It’s easy to pass down generational racism when you can't get an outside perspective, but many people have been born here from the exploitation of their fathers and grandfathers. Many of these people you went to school with.
I think that's such an interesting concept. We grew up together. We have the same needs, wants and desires. We’ve watched each other start families. We have barbecues and cookouts together. Yet the media continues to tell us to fear the big “other.”
What does that even mean, though, when our lives are more similar than they are different? When we are able to share in each other's cultures and learn and grow together? When the inability of our governments to implement any meaningful legislation continues to make our lives more and more difficult? When big business continues to siphon money from the working class day after day after day after day. Who really is the big “other?”
You have more in common with your neighbor, by which I mean everyone in your town, than you do with people that continually choose to antagonize you or them. The people in power (government and big business alike) are refusing to help the everyday American in a time of global restructuring. Things are progressively getting worse with no end in sight. Russia and Ukraine are some of the biggest exporters of grain. You think inflation is bad now? Wheat hasn’t even been factored in.
Talk to your next door neighbors. Understand you have more in common with them than petty differences. Organize your community. Buy a gun if that's your prerogative. No one is coming to save us.
Mario Barrios
Centralia
