What opportunities do you have, everyday, to increase or advance the extent to which our communities, countries, and world actually embrace the cosmopolitan ideal that “every human being has obligations to every other”?

Especially in today’s political climate, I believe the protests and uproar in regards to George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement have created unprecedented opportunities for not just me, but American society as a collective to further pursue a cosmopolitanism view of racial equity. I believe the collective protests across all 50 states and a number of foreign countries over the past few days have created a unified message that people are tired and past frustrated of the systemic racism in Amerikkka and other societies. However, as a white-passing Latino, it has also made me reflect as to why I haven’t done more for the movement at times when it doesn’t make national headlines.

Reflecting on this thought has made me uncomfortable. Why haven’t I called out the anti-blackness of networks like Univision and Telemundo and talked about it with my family? Part of me wants to believe that its because I don’t really watch these networks so I can’t call it out, part of me knows its because having that conversation would be an uncomfortable one. As many a part of the current movement have reiterated, it’s not enough to be against racism, you must be antiracist. While I believe I am the ladder, I know that I can do more to express it. This is all to say that I don’t think it’s just about the opportunities we do take to push cosmopolitanism, but also the opportunities we have that aren’t used— in my case, the uncomfortable conversations with family. Sitting in this feeling of uncomfortableness and understanding that it is wrong of me to not do more has motivated me to change that reality and begin to better utilize my everyday opportunities in favor of a cosmopolitan future.