This is just a quick response I wrote to well-meaning people who said “Don’t worry, pray.” Nothing new here but perhaps it will be of some use to someone:
I appreciate the sentiment, but this is more easily said from a position of relative privilege. Would you feel the same way if your family was being bullied or threatened? Would you be completely free of worry? Perhaps, but I think most people would understandably be concerned, regardless of how much they pray. Who are we to tell them they shouldn't be?
But you are right about doing something concrete, like standing up to hate and bigotry when we see it, or showing others that we love them regardless of race or religion or ability or any other label that might put them in harm's way.
Violent racists and bigots are coming out of the woodwork; while I can afford to ignore them, my Muslim friends and neighbors can't. We are doing our best to show them that they are part of our family, but I'll never tell them not to worry