Miranda Wilson
An Open Letter to my American Daughter.
Darling girl,
I immigrated to the United States of America because I truly believed it to be the land of opportunity. This great country gave me a career, a home, a husband, and the best and most beautiful thing in my life (you!). Good, kind American people welcomed me to their country with open arms. The American Dream is real for me.
Since you are only four (excuse me: almost five), you may not remember the fear we and our loved ones experienced on election night. We didn't know if it would now become socially acceptable to express hate speech openly, or if our new leader would legislate bigotry under the guise of morality. We were afraid. I am afraid.
Whether we like it or not, America has changed forever. But realistically, our family's lives probably won't change that much. We are insulated from most of the hatred because of our unearned privileges. White privilege. Able-bodied privilege. Class privilege. I identify with the gender I was born. I'm married to a man, your wonderful Daddy. I'm descended from Christians. And although I'm an immigrant, my privileges ensure that my immigration status is unlikely to be jeopardized. We benefit from all these privileges even if we don't notice them. Not noticing is itself a privilege. We can afford not to see the ugliness of discrimination because it isn't a constant in our lives. Outwardly, our family looks just like the social group who will benefit most from the new government, even if we didn't vote for it.
So what can we do? I've been racking my brains. When you're a professor of music, as I am, it's easy to make some glib platitude about creating beauty in a world full of ugliness by performing the music of Bach and Beethoven. But in reality, classical music is a consolation to very few and most will not listen to it at all. (Do not imagine that this exempts you from violin practice.) As a privileged person, I can and will donate money to organizations that stand up against hatred. But that's still not enough.
So here's my promise to you, my love. I will set an example to you. I will raise you to show compassion to others, no matter who they are, what they do, who they love, what they look like, or how they worship. Let's resolve that all human beings are safe around us because we are their allies. We're flawed, we're still learning how to be the kind of people we want to be. But let's make it our life's work to notice discrimination and hatred and injustice, and let's speak out against them, whether it's in your preschool classroom or my college classroom or any other place. Even if we are so horrified that we don't know what to say or do, we must say something and do something. This is important, probably the most important thing I can ever teach you. Let's let everyone else know that whoever they are, we will help them and keep them safe.
I love you, I love you, I love you.
Now please pick up your toys.
With love,
Your Mummy
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