“Shadows and Names”

When it’s not Jews, it’s Arabs.
If it’s not Muslims, it’s Mexicans.
When it’s not Mexicans, it’s Haitians.
If it’s not Haitians, it’s Somalis.
After Somalis, it will be a new shadow,
a new name,
a new narrative,
but the same fear.

Someone is always the other.
The “uncivilized” is always to blame.
Fear changes faces:
geography, location, cultural identity,
but never leaves the room.

When we see ourselves in them,
when empathy comes first,
until love triumphs over the face of evil,
when repentance breaks us,
until reconciliation rises over division,
until we recognize our humanity in others,
until we see the face of God in their experience and pain,
the next scapegoat waits.
The cycle of violence and dehumanization never ends.