Molly’s Epidemic this week
As a white immigrant myself (though unfortunately not at all rich) this week’s episode really hit home as an echo of many interactions I’ve had in my adopted country. Many many times I’ve heard people complain to me (an immigrant) about how immigrants are destroying the country, only to be assured that I don’t count, it’s not me they are taking about. It couldn’t be, because I am a white woman. It has never stopped being extremely disturbing to hear this line of thought dehumanizing other immigrants who happen to look different than I do while also making assumptions about my own experience that are categorically wrong (I must have money, I must never have needed to work, I must not have faced any of the difficulties all immigrants do). I am lucky and privileged in many ways that others are not, but thus racist and hateful discourse that people see no issue with saying to my face (because in their mind I must agree with them) makes me lose so much hope for humanity. I can’t imagine what it would be like in a place like the United States, because I know it is so much worse. Here, the implications of “not you” are left unsaid for the time being.