Have you seen this new mural in France? The artist, Judith de Leeuw, is Dutch. It depicts Lady Liberty covering her face, according to the artist, in shame over the current US immigration policies. This is a screenshot from this video from USA Today.
I know exactly how she feels.
I am the daughter of a Cuban refugee. My bedtime stories growing up were all about my dad and his family escaping from Cuba and coming to the United States in 1961. America was freedom from the terror of a harsh dictatorship under Fidel Castro.
America was freedom, and my dad, his parents, and all his siblings were happy to become naturalized American citizens. Land of the free and home of the brave.
Fast forward 60-some-odd years, and now we’re the land of the hunted and home of the cowards.
You know that poem by Martin Niemoller that says, “First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist”? And he goes on to list other marginalized communities that he didn’t speak up for because he wasn’t one of them. Then, finally, they come for him, and there is no one left to speak for him.
We’re living in that poem right now. And as a fat American, I know they’re coming for me. So I have to speak up for those who they are coming for—the immigrants, the Black people, the trans people and the rest of the LGBTQ+ community, those on Medicaid and food stamps…
What can I do as a fat American to speak out for them?
I can have conversations about the injustice with people close to me who might disagree with me.
I can be vocal on social media about the injustice—it really can make a difference. (I know it did in my journey!)
I can love the people in my local community and speak up for them.
I can warn others about how they will treat fat people and start making plans to fight it. See my post Fat Politics for more on this.
We are all in this together.
With you in solidarity,
Amanda Martinez Beck