There are many things I wish I could say about having watched the startling and horrifying footage of Neda Agha Sultan's murder. Unfortunately, I feel words may fail me when it comes to this. But it is completely outrageous and Obama's response, "heartbreaking" barely scratches the surface of a necessary US response. It is easy for many of us to turn our heads and Americans have never been subtle about such an embarrassing gesture more like a trait. I hope to share this footage and that it creates some sort of response and activism within the community of concerned and empathic individuals. This footage has been circling the internet from what I gain, hours after the shooting and since last saturday has caused an outpour of further protests and blog site responses. With all the work I've been trying to do here as an American citizen and as a poet, its not hard to feel helpless miles away when witnessing such horrendous imagery. In these moments, mostly I am brought down to the knee-buckling truth that my words can only do but so much, at the very least may they document the spirit of human condition in a time where I am not certain we remember what humanity looks like, feels like, loves like... The romantic in me will write the ugly into some beautiful thunder cloud of an image. However, this blog does not serve the purpose of helplessness rather may it inspire some type of inkling human compassion that quarrels the soul and awakens the fighter in us, the passion and drive of human concern. I do not know what it is to hold my daughter as her breath leaves, to watch the blood flood her face, to see a spirit flee in the midst of hope...but I know that this should not be the price of equality, of free speech, of basic human right to live and speak against injustice. My prayers, though they are a frail reminder of loss, may they reach the hearts of those in Iran and the family of Ms. Neda Agha Sultan and may they also offer some small morsel of consolation that there is a God somewhere fighting along with us, in us, always...there are moments I am torn to pieces with the doubt of this, yet and still, in the whirlwind of human terror and injustice there is always something utterly other being born and blooming, protecting the best of us. may Neda Agha Sultan's death not be in vain....
always,
aja monet
ps. please be advised that the footage is graphic.
click here for more info
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