Category: protest

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Protesting and my Faith

After I posted “Why I Protest,” I noticed that I didn’t share how my faith plays into my desire to protest.

One particular verse has been playing itself in my head over and over. He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8).

Since I want to know God’s will for my life, I love this verse. The verse lists three things that God wants His followers to do.

The first instruction is “do justly.” I believe that this means that I am to be honest in all my interactions with others and stand up when an innocent person is being harmed. I am currently listening to a book titled Framed that tells the stories of people who have been convicted of crimes that they didn’t commit. Black Lives Matter and our current protests demanding due process for all in the US are good examples of doing justice.

I can imagine my Republican friend pointing out that doing justly also includes harsh penalties in order to punish wrong doers and protect society. She would probably bring up the importance of fairness in how the government distributes financial assistance. While I believe this, I suspect there is little fraud in food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and welfare.

he second one is “love mercy.” God’s mercy is when He gives us something that we don’t deserve. Salvation is the most obvious example. In the justice system, mercy is when the judge is more lenient than expected. The Strong’s Concordance defines mercy with the word “kindness.” While I know that some people will take advantage of acts of mercy and/or kindness, I hope to find opportunities to fulfill this instruction from God. I limit my money donations to charities or my church except for a few dollars for random people sometimes. I remind myself that I don’t know their situation.

The last instruction is to “walk humbly with thy God “I believe that this means that I continually double check what I believe to be true.

What are the facts in this news article?

Does the writer use any opinionated words?

What is my evidence for and against what I believe?

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Why I protest

I have been resisting the urge to write about politics on this site because I want to be welcoming to all. Today, I will share why I have attended two protests this year and plan to keep it up.

I think it is best for me to start with my feelings about my nation, the United States. I love the US because I was born and lived my whole life here. My grandparents and my parents were born and lived here too. The state of Ohio and the local government funded my public education which prepared me for college. I went to college with the help of a Pell Grant and college work study. I saw myself as an independent rather than a Republican or Democrat. When Obama was president, I was helped by Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Due to the times of my life that my government helped me, I was thankful for what the USA did for me. I was proud of the generosity of my government/nation towards people in need in the US and in other countries. I learned about the Peace Corps and dreamed of joining it as a way to experience adventure and help others. Due to my depression, I never managed to become a doctor or missionary. Yet, my depression and childhood also gave me a strong sense of empathy towards the struggles of others. President Kennedy started the Peace Corps and said, “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” I never worried about who was President. I would vote and trust that whoever won would do the job to the best of his ability.

When Trump became president in 2016, I was worried about how things were going to go. I tried to live with it but I saw Trump angering our allies and separating families. This was my first time protesting. In fairness to my Republican friends, Obama started the separation policy due to a difference in the length of time a minor can be detained as compared to an adult. But, Trump expanded it by choosing to prosecute everyone for illegally crossing the border. It was a tiny protest by the Waukesha library and Cutler Park.

My next two protests were Black Lives Matter in Waukesha. I have always believed in a color blind society as the ideal until I started seeing videos of blacks being mistreated and/or killed by cops. The videos and books helped me to see that our gut instincts are a blend of intuition and our society’s hang ups. I try to find any racist thinking in my thoughts but I suspect that I still have some unconscious racist beliefs. This is why I feel that we need to focus on helping whoever is being mistreated in our society. When I was participating in Black Lives Matter protests, the phrase ” justice for all” was playing in my head. I used to recite the pledge of allegiance in the mornings at school. Then, they slowly removed it from my schooling. It was my belief then and now that a just society protects the rights of each and every person in that society regardless of race. Now, I add immigration status to the list.

I will end this post with a quote from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. This poem is on the Statue of Liberty which was given to the United States by France. I learned about this poem in elementary school.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”