I’ve long refused to talk about this issue. I’ve felt the need to talk about it for weeks and waited, meditated and prayed about it.
Then two days ago one of my sons showed me the George Floyd video.
Can I stay silent?
Speak English or go back to your country!
I write in my blog, do videos and post on social media in Spanish. According to stats more than 98% of our audience speaks Spanish in lives outside the US.
A few weeks ago, a dear sister in Christ made a comment in one of my posts.
This was the exact comment: “Speak English or go back to your country”.
My first reaction was… “maybe she doesn’t know that Facebook is an international platform that reaches many countries in many different languages — not only the US,” and I was speaking to readers in Latin America.
I understand we think the US is the whole world, in baseball we call the final games between two national teams “The World Series”, so, no big deal. The lady doesn’t know.
But then my curiosity took me to her profile page, and everything changed.
This dear lady described herself as a “patriot, god loving, Trump loving, christian” (God with a small “g” not my misspelling. Talk about English).
Now, before I continue, allow me to clarify something. This is not about Trump (I’m not a Trump hater) nor against Republicans. I’ve always considered myself a conservative — fiscal and social conservative. I grew up in a communist country and my political views have always been as far as possible from socialism.
But I have to say that I’m starting to see something — a trend — and I don’t like it.
On this dear sister’s wall I saw a number of posts against Latinos. Not explicitly about illegal immigrants, but against immigrants in general.
I also saw some of her friends’ posts. Pretty much the same type of language and sentiments. What saddens me the most, is that a number of them also described themselves as Christians.
I didn’t have a hard time connecting President Trump to the phrase “go back to your country”. He’s used the phrase in the past. One time against Jorge Ramos (a left leaning journalist from Miami) that happens to be an American citizen. Yes, a democratic socialist as good as Bernie Sanders but nevertheless a US citizen, whether I like his political views or not.
So connecting her to the president ideologically as well as her circle of friends is not difficult.
What is difficult for me to understand is having God in the equation. Well, and guns. What does God have to do with guns?
Don’t misunderstand me. I do believe in the Second Amendment (the right to keep and bear Arms)— a right we didn’t have in communist Cuba.
Still, I have a hard time connecting guns and God. Please pray for me, I’m a little slow to understand.
What’s more important.
Do all “Patriots, gun loving, Trump loving Christians” feel the same way?
Do you all want me to Speak English or go back to my country?
Well. At least in this dear sister’s circle of friends, Yes.
And where is that at?
That’s the first question that comes to mind when I’m told to “go back to my country.”
This is not the first time I’ve experienced something similar.
Not long ago, my oldest son was at a gas station here in San Diego and while he was putting gas in his car, a person on a motorcycle stopped next to him and screamed at him the words: “Why don’t you (***) beener, go back to your country!” after my son complemented his beautiful motorcycle.
My son didn’t know how to answer then. When he came to my house he was really nervous and sad. He said: “But Dad, this is my country… I was born in San Diego.”
That was the first time, since I came to the US, that I had doubted if I made the right decision to leave Cuba 37 years earlier in the first place.
And the first time I didn’t feel welcome in a country that I have loved so much.
The question remains. And where is that at?
I’m not welcome in the land I was born. I abandoned that country to get away from communism, looking for freedom, became a citizen and pledged my allegiance to the United States.
A land where it is believed “all men are created equal”. Where I can have freedom of religion and freedom of expression — things I never had in the country where I was born.
Well.
Perhaps, I was naive.
It has taken me years, and many watched ‘conservative’ cable news programs, to really understand that I’m not welcome here. And never will be.
My Grandmother teaching me the principle of dignity (when I was a little boy) used to say: “When you are not welcome at a place, just leave with your head up.”
But where do I go? Where is my home?
I find comfort in the words of C.S. Lewis. They might not apply directly to this situation, but I see a parallel. He said:
“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
I would say: “If I find myself not welcome as a citizen of this great nation, the only logical explanation is that my real citizenship is from another world.”
I have the confidence that in the New Jerusalem (which is above, Galatians 4:26) my citizenship is guaranteed.
In the meantime. I will continue to share the good news of Jesus Christ in Spanish, for there are more than 469 million Spanish speaking people in América (which is a Continent).
May God bless you all!
