When I was seven years old, I had already seen oppression first hand. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of standing next to my parents in Berlin, Germany. The wind buffeted us as we stood on one of the bridges connecting West Berlin to East Berlin. The Wall stretched out from both sides of us, covered in graffiti and desperation. People hurried by us from the East to the West, and little to no cross-traffic hampered their journeys.
1986 marked the release of one of my all time favorite albums: Graceland by Paul Simon. I had the VHS of their African concert and attended rallies to end Apartheid. When I moved from the Middle East to the States as a teenager, I had little interest in shopping every weekend, I went to “Free Mandela” protests. I had felt the power of racism, and I hated it. In 1992 “The Power of One” was released and instantly became my favorite movie. I bought the soundtrack and sang along to every word. I hoped that my generation could be better and more accepting than our ancestors. I still hope and pray that every new generation strips away the prejudices and ugliness of the generation before them.
Injustice exists in the world, and not the kind we spend time complaining about here in America. Real, raw, life-crushing injustice exists, but so many of us (myself for the last few years included) can comfortably ignore it. I hope that like Paul Simon travelling to Africa and daring to record and film with exiled artists, our family can travel to a land plagued by natural disasters in order to restore hope, love, and the knowledge that ALL humans are connected, we are all brothers and sisters, and we all have a duty to care for each other. This is my life’s mission.
