Reflections on #Illridewithyou

Normally, you would be here for Sew Cute Tuesday. But I spent all day glued to the news, watching the news from Sydney siege unfold. This morning, I woke up to the devastating news that two hostages have died, and the hostage-taker himself too. I am heartbroken for the families of all involved, and nervous about the backlashes that have and may continue to result from this event.

Normally, I keep things fairly light and quilty on this blog. Any deep thinking going on is regarding quilting or the community or the industry or even blogging. But this isn’t a normal situation. Australia has been so blessed to not have any terrorism directly on our shores (their shores?), so to find out yesterday that this may be politically motivated was a huge shock to our core. Their core? My core? Can I speak “on behalf of Aussies” as an ex-pat?

I am so far, distance-wise, from the situation back home, and yet so close emotionally. The disturbed individual responsible for this attack was an Iranian man who had claimed political asylum in Australia. The case for refugees and asylum seekers is already so fraught, this is only going to add fuel to that fire. He was also a Muslim, and incidences of violence towards Muslim people throughout Australia were already happening yesterday. The huge #Illridewithyou response on social media – where people stepped up and literally rode public transport with Muslim strangers to help keep them safe, or at least stood up for them virtually.

I would never, ever presume to claim to know what Muslims in Australia must be feeling today. The fear and anxiety that must be playing on their mind, not knowing which stranger in the street is going to be a hate-filled racist. And yet, that feeling of definitely knowing you are a minority in a country is one that I feel very strongly sometimes here in Japan. Subconsciously, you are always aware that you are different; that there is no other white person on the train, you are the only white person on the street. I have never felt unsafe because of it, and even the anti-foreigner protests that occasionally happen in Tokyo don’t really concern me. But the knowledge that it could potentially be me as the suspicious outcast due to a situation like this, simply because of the colour of my skin…

And then there’s the guilt that comes from now feeling like this, knowing that this has been happening to every other skin colour for thousands of years! Trust me, I am well aware of this.

So please excuse me today, but I am not in the mood for partying. And Sew Cute Tuesday will also be on Christmas holidays for the next 2 weeks, returning January 6th. Please – go hug your family today. Hold them tight, be grateful for your safety.