Reflection from Paris Pt 1
My trip to Paris was very great, inspirational, kinda blew my mind. It was the first time I crossed the Atlantic to Europe. Being in the airport was strange, everyone kinda looked the same & different from pale white to dark black. I swear for a moment I thought I was in downtown San Antonio surrounded by Mexicans, but a foreign language pours out of their mouth Arabic, Turkish, French, German and African. I hear people talking English in British, Irish, and Australian accents. The airport is connected to the metro. We are looking out the window, theres a lot of graffiti, it looks like the United States, except so many ancient buildings. A homeless guy leaves a yellow note asking for help. Its kinda familiar or comforting in a strange way; the feelings of gratitude mingled with apprehension, fear and wonder. All these internal feelings, will my time here in Paris matter, will I make a difference in the overall scope of things globally, can I connect it locally. How did I get here wow?!
There are numerous amounts of immigrants in Paris I was expecting to be among a sea of white French people. They're there, but mixed in with all these other races of people. What is even more surprising is all these people are speaking French with features from the Middle East, Egyptians and Latin. The feeling is over familiar, being within a global society participating within the universal patchwork that makes up the human existence. How will this trip impact me? This is the very seat of colonialism, historically speaking. When I walk through the streets of France I can help but think of all the oppression, war and killing, so much blood.
Being around such powerful people from all over is very inspiring. Meeting new movement folks is such a fun bonding experience. Growing up within the movement is hard sometimes, because when you think about all the work people before you did and/or parents/family, even then after so much progress, there is still so much more Heavy Work that still has to be done or is bearly being addressed now in 2015. Hearing people speak about their local work and experience in the United States is very uplifting and seems recognizable so far from home. Listening to local people talking about police brutality and people dying in police custody is hard to take and immigrants talking about their experience inside a detention center is depressing but somehow seems to link us together in the fight for basic human rights.
Listening to all the devastation back home and abroad caused by corporations, oil companies, the states and the cities within them leaves me feelings vulnerable and makes me miss my family immensely. Hearing about all the destruction of our environment and the planet as a whole from deep sea oil spills to the fracturing of our sacred mother to gain access to all of her resources to the killing off of animals, species by species, makes everything seem hopeless. The auctioning of native items in Paris is a low blow and seems as though it was specifically planned along with our arrival to set us back as we are all connected by our sacred items and feel personally connected to them. Having so many indigenous women, men and youth was an amazing feeling. All the ceremonies connected to water were very powerful for me especially as a mexica apache azteca woman.
Participating in all of the actions within the 10 day frame I was there was encouragement for my lucha soul and really made me happy to be fight the good fight. The actions filled me with so much exhilaration, hope, joy and satisfaction. Happy to be yelling our local chants at the eiffel tower and exited to share struggle through the local french chants.
