Dear PSR Community:
The significance of next Tuesday’s election cannot be overstated. We can feel it in our very bodies and in the tensions of our communities. Leaders up and down the ballot represent often competing visions of how we respond to this time of pandemic, long-overdue calls for reckoning with racism, environmental crises, and economic inequality.
I grew up in Guatemala in the midst of the devastation of a Civil War, and saw the critical struggle for demanding a government that represented the interest of its people, particularly the most marginalized. I also experienced first-hand in that context the high price many paid for the basic right to having their voices heard. Many in the diverse set of communities we at PSR represent are disenfranchised from that right by systemic repression and overly punitive policies. Others among us do not have the right to vote, and yet are just as impacted by the repercussions of our elections. If you are able to vote, I encourage you to exercise that right.
Let us hold one another and our communities in prayer in the days ahead—prayers in words and prayers in action.
Peace,
David
David Vásquez-Levy
President