Live your complete truth, without fear - Rare Magazine

The Right to Live your Complete Truth without Fear

by: Alex English

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable—a most sacred right—a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.

- Abraham Lincoln

The events of the last few months, associated with both COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter, have exposed the widespread vulnerabilities, inequities, and injustices that face everyone in our world, but especially Black people, poor people, and those who are under-educated and under-supported. The first cataclysmic shock came with the onset of a novel and unknown coronavirus that would bring our daily lives and economies to a grinding halt. Across the world, to varying degrees, we collectively watched ill-prepared institutional responses, millions of patients suffer needlessly, and an economic ripple-effect (hurting the poor and working-class most) that still hasn’t been fully realized. Much of this magnitude is owed to our chosen economic system, which is inherently shortsighted, profit-minded, and exploitative. It’s also thanks to a political climate that has only worked against those trying to save lives. This is combined with an under-educated populace that has been cleverly fed misinformation, anti-intellectual propaganda, and plausible but untrue conspiracy theories.

Today, we find ourselves facing an ideological tug-of-war between those who are doing their best to prevent further disease spread, those who are using it to squeeze already-vulnerable workers and an already-precarious economy, and those who think the entire exercise has been an elaborate hoax. Amid the global pandemic, we experienced the spark of an even more visceral threat to our Utopian ideals—the ongoing and systematic mistreatment of Black people, people of color, immigrants, and many other groups that are not led by Caucasian males. Thanks to modern technology and the ubiquity of video recording devices, these cases are out in the open more than ever, and the painful unfairness of each death, traffic stop, and police-civilian interaction is clear and on display. Who can say if the Black Lives Matter movement would have had the same platform and impact had we not all been already fearful of a mysterious, invisible virus and frustrated by a clearly racist, misogynist, homophobic, and incompetent leading political administration?

What is clear is that America no longer leads the world in pursuing one’s personal freedom. That our country’s founding documents and anthems call for “equality and justice for all” is almost laughable in light of both recent events and the reexamining of the societal structures that helped build this country (e.g. slavery). At this moment, due to both COVID-19 and #BLM, none of us feel particularly free. Each of us has had our freedom curtailed during the first half of 2020, and in many ways, since the start of our adult lives.

Thanks for checking out this article preview. The full article is available in our summer Freedom issue. It includes these features:

Thanks for checking out this abridged version of our Freedom issue. Get the full article along with these features: * Guide to sustainable travel

* How cannabis is transforming the wellness industry

* The exceptionally rare Jane Elliot

* Freedom against dog breed discrimination

* The art of Dameon Priestly

* How to: Zoom-friendly make up

* Life after lock down

* Our meticulously-curated BLM playlist

* Viva Africa decor

* Bringing the outdoors in: green architecture

* Using plants in your decor

* Spotlight on chef Dominique Crenn

* Will you care about their freedom?

* Throckmorton Jones designer BLM masks

* Spotlight on artist Ron Hann

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