Unwanted
The day is again clear, and the temperature is steady at 45 degrees farenheit. In Berkeley, there is no rain on this day, only a beautiful sun coming through the tree in the backyard. We are warmly held by friends who have been in this home for decades, having infused the place with the warmth and love of friends and family. Blessed to be counted among those who have shared that part of life with them.
The tension between East and West has grown to the point where people of Chinese heritage may lose the right to buy a home or property in the state of Texas. The ability to benefit from a capitalist society - often in the form of acquiring land and waiting for appreciation or deals to enhance the value of the land, is a tried and true path to increasing one's asset base. Indeed, home ownership/land ownership is what this society encourages people to dream about - not stewardship, tending to, or sharing land that could host lives both human and non-human.
The anti-Chinese sentiment emerging in Texas, at a time when anti-Asian sentiment has been so visible and violent, feels like a warning to anyone who might be identified as "Chinese." The ability to tell the difference among east Asians, has always proven to be absent in times of war-mongering. Think Vincent Chin, murdered because he was mistaken to be "a Jap.". Think World War II, and placards worn and hung, "Chinese" (to indicate not the enemy). Think signs that went up in 1992, "Not Korean.". We are living in such times today, except things have gotten more complicated with all the tenions in the East - Taiwan, Hong Kong, North Korea, South Korea.
The ability of military leaders to continue growing the suspicion, doubt, and anxiety among the population at large is disturbing - and familiar. The ability to scare people into thinking that freedom and democracy are at risk animates a certain kind of amnesia. That amnesia is that every day people get injured and die as militarization and generals take over the public discourse about how nation-to-nation relations should unfold. The harm has been documented. The deception about involvement of intelligence operatives has been revealed in places across the entire globe. Whether in Latin America, Africa, Asia, parts of Europe, right here at home - operatives have helped to stimulate the fear and suspicion that leads to deaths of innocents by creating "the unwanted.".
But one cannot ignore that limitations of this democracy - that a million people died as a result of the pandemic; that the federal governing body cannot get beyond petty division and derision, best evidenced by an elected member of the House going so far as to yell "Liar!" as the President delivered the State of the Union address this week. No sanction can be imposed because the House Speaker is vulnerable to an extreme political wing that is present and wants to stimulate war yet again.
Today, the public's lack of knowledge about history, about foreign relations, about the infrastructure of war that could destroy all life - keeps the general sentiment in a state of insecurity. At this moment, a way to turn tension in to attention to our common interest in peace.