I want to speak from two perspectives that reveal the contrast in lived experience.

I am a gay woman of color. I am non-binary. I am an immigrant working toward citizenship in this country. My life has been shaped by uncertainty, by fear of systems bigger than me, and by the knowledge that at any moment, who I am could be turned into a weapon against me.

And I am also a white woman who has benefited from every privilege handed to me through the simple luck of where I was born and the family I was born into. That accident of birth gave me security, belonging, and rights I never had to question, much less fight for.

Both of these realities exist side by side in America. And they force us to confront a question: why do we so often fail to show empathy? Why do we allow ourselves to forget that other people’s lives, identities, and families are just as precious as our own?

Hate speech is not “just words.” Words shape culture. Words shape laws. Words create permission. Free speech protects the exchange of ideas. Hate speech strips people of their humanity and marks them as targets. When leaders use their platforms to normalize cruelty, they give others license to act on it.”

Mary, age 69

CRI member