EP. 005 - ALBERTA

Photo Credit - Alberta Wright

When I was in 3rd grade my mom sat me down and taught me about the Holocaust. I always knew we were Jewish. I knew that my dad was a non-practicing Christian from a small town in Texas. I understood that my mother had a hard time with his family because they said anti-semitic things to her. My blood battled itself. Mom gave me a book called The Devil’s Arithmetic, and from then on, I became obsessed with learning about the persecution of my ancestors.

Photo Credit - Alberta Wright

I asked questions, joined organizations, lived in history books. I took a class called Facing History in Ourselves that visited the darkest chapters in history like the Armenian Genocide or American Slavery. I immersed myself in all the ways human evil reared its haunted head. I wasn’t trying to hold onto a religion, but a cultural identity. One that had, for me, been defined through atrocity. I was trying to wrap my mind around how something so inhumane could be possible. And how the world just allowed it to happen.

Photo Credit - Alberta Wright

I realize now, I was dedicating my time trying to do something about this thing that happened in the past even though I couldn’t change it. I was suffering from survivor’s guilt. I felt, and still feel, bound by responsibility. The duty to never be a bystander to injustice.

My parents chose the path of being artists. We moved around a lot chasing a safer neighborhood, a job, the next best thing. They would bring thrifted items into our home and create masterful works of art. Our environment was second-hand beauty. My parents taught me the importance of creating our own world with what we’ve been given. My generation has inherited a bleak world. But we are creating a new one. A just one. A free one. Where all people are afforded the right to breathe, dream, and create.

Photo Credit - Alberta Wright