My Birthday Reflection on January 6
On January 6, 2021, I was looking forward to celebrating my birthday in Atlanta, Georgia. I had organized a small dinner with my friends at the Sun Dial Restaurant, which I’d wanted to try for months. As I left my apartment to run a few errands before dinnertime, a neighbor stepped out of the elevator. “Today was a big day,” they said upon seeing me waiting on the other side of the door. “Wow, they actually remember my birthday,” I thought to myself.
For context, most people forget my birthday, even if I remind them in advance. For my entire adult life (and teenage life before that), I have had to take more initiative in planning my own celebrations and make peace with not receiving gifts. Any form of birthday recognition I receive, no matter how small, carries tremendous meaning for me. So, when this neighbor approached me, I was filled with misguided joy … until they added “when that mob attacked the Capitol.”
Since then, all of my friends have remembered the attempted insurrection on January 6 before they recall that my birthdate came long before 2021. In some ways, whenever I mention my birthday, it seems as if I am reminding people of this dark, painful event in recent history that they are eager to leave behind them, even as the country becomes more wounded by it. No matter where I go or who I speak with, I cannot, under any circumstance, ignore the political realities of this country. My entire life, I have been bombarded with these realities. And these days, I am reminded of them every single moment when my birthday comes up in conversation.
Now, I recognize how exhausting this sounds – of course it can be! This is why I recently relocated abroad, allowing myself space to breathe as I continue my advocacy from afar. Interestingly, I have encountered multiple other Americans who have moved abroad for similar reasons. The only difference? They rarely reflect aloud on the struggles they left behind. They try to act as if none of it is happening, whereas I have no such luxury. This is not a complaint. Perhaps, it is more of a criticism. By failing to acknowledge our role in these systems we try to leave behind, we perpetuate them from a distance.
Even as I type this article, racism and injustices that would have otherwise never touched the nation in which I now reside are being transmitted through American social media and cinema. Just as they have since the founding of the United States, our international peers are learning new strategies for intolerance directly from our mouths. And despite the increasing American expatriatism, so few of us provide voices of correction. Ending racism and other systemic injustices in the United States is imperative for the entire world, not just for a single nation. There is no escaping the trying times looming on the horizon. Try as we might to deny it, everything that happens in the United States will follow us no matter where we go.
With this in mind, as I approach yet another birthday (this time overseas), I find myself meditating on a saying repeated many times by Madam Vice President Kamala Harris: “What can be, unburdened by what has been.” If I might revise this saying, I would instead say: “What can be, unburdened by what has been, and aware of what truly is.” Concisely translated into a call to action or key take away, this revised saying suggests that we embrace every semblance of peace in this foreboding moment. This does not mean that we can escape our reality. There is no escaping the obstacles to come. The only way out is through, with a firm mind, unshakeable integrity, and community by our side.