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America, This Love Letter is for You
We see you
Lovely friends,
This has been a long battle for you — we watch the protests and know this is not the first time you have fought for change: Fought anti-Black racism. It’s far from the first time. I’m not American, I’m a New Zealander, and you might wonder why anyone would care way over here on the other side of the world, in a place many of you barely know exists. But New Zealand watches you; the whole world is watching you. You’re in our news and in our movies and on our twitter feeds: in front of us constantly. It’s hard to think about anything else right now except what you’re going through. Hard to write about trivial things. To do trivial things. If it’s hard for us, it must be impossible for you. I’m reading as many of your stories as I can to hear you and understand.
It must be hard in some ways to know the world is watching. To be scrutinized like that. Questioned over your choice of president, your actions as a nation internationally, your choices internally. Everyone with an opinion. It’s not like the rest of us are perfect. Our imperfections just don’t get the air-time that yours do.
I hope it’s also encouraging to know we see you. Last week, students protested for you in a town a few hours from where I live and I have to admit, I wondered if it was worthwhile. I wondered if…
