AED 813 “5: Making Visible”

Everyday, I drive through and around Pittsburgh, but every time I see one, I smile- finally a positive interruption. A sign in three languages assures immigrants of the Pittsburgh community that they belong. It says, “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor.” They are most common in the South Hills of Pittsburgh where there are more diverse groups of people settled. The woman who started distributing them is from there. I live up north and seeing one is a much rarer find. I searched for one all week but couldn’t seem to find one in its natural habitat, or I was so caught up I just missed it. It’s easy to let the mean ocean swell of negative rhetoric of news, political, and educational waves wash you swiftly under the current, drowning you from a breath of hope. Like an automated machine, we are programmed to think of ourselves, our routines, our time, our money, our survival, and our people that we forget how to be human to anyone outside of this functioning. This sign breaks my coding; there are people who care. I remember that. I remember when people used to strike up kind conversations in common places. I remember looking people in someone else’s eye as I passed them on the street and exchanging a smile. Where has that gone? Is this fading away? Why don’t I feel connected to my “neighbors”?

The person who put this sign up sees my partner as a valuable person in the community. They can empathize how courageous he was to want a better life and move away from all that he knew. They see that it is a lonely journey to make and live, without all of your loved ones there. They know how hard the current atmosphere is for immigrants. The sign repels the toxicity. When I see this sign, I feel connected with the people living in that house. I wonder what they must be like. They must empathize with, know, and most importantly care for people who are different from themselves. I wonder where their friends and neighbors are from. They must know how important the feeling of belonging is to our swim through life. It’s refreshing for a sharp second.

My mind wanders. Far. In circles. The current comes, and I think about the weekly new cycle. I think about the discussion of “the wall.” Why do we hate so intensely that we want to barricade ourselves from sight of the “other”? I think about the leadership of this country contradicting its own values- freedom and opportunity for all. I don’t know that we’ve ever stood up for the rights of all people. I think about the people who don’t have their family with them, because they were the only ones able to make the insurmountable immigration to this selfish American life. I think about the people that find support in pockets and wonder how they keep themselves afloat. I think of the hateful people interrupting immigrants lives with their own selfish fears. The big one: Is citizenship and acceptance in American society solely based on your whiteness? I wonder with changing demographics if we will have the same issues multiple political cycles down the road.

I digress and have to distract myself. Maybe I’ll focus on treading water or my side stroke. I don’t know that there is a way to understand this. One thing I do know is that it was taught. I know I was taught to question it. I know my students actively question it. I want to eradicate it. I only admire the sign for confronting it.