We are in a dance.
Each one of us.
You and I.
Our families.
Our communities.
Our countries.
We are partners. Yet, we forget this … time and time again.
We may appear to be on opposite sides of politics, of spirituality.
We may have different colors of skin.
We may experience, in our daily lives, different challenges and afflictions.
But we are partners.
Partners in this dance of life.
Everything we do—everything—makes an impact on the world.
I choose to believe that most of us want a healthy, whole world. One where we honor and commune with one another. One where we steward and take care of the land, our oceans, the animals … eachother.
Our philosophical views and lived experiences will cause differences in our perceptions and beliefs around which strategies are best to make our world a more peaceful home for our children.
…But I have to believe that most of us want a more peaceful, earthly home for all children.
We are responsible for this. We are the future’s ancestors.
And it is with this in mind, in heart, that I I want to tell you about Matthew.
Just typing his name, tears burn my eyes. My head pounds. My heart feels aflame and my fingertips drip in grief, compassion—a cry for justice.
My stomach tightens and I feel for Matthew. I feel him.
Matthew is autistic.
If you know much about me, you know I’m openly—and proudly—autistic, too.
He is part of my autistic family. We are kin. We belong to the same autistic culture.
Matthew is Black.
I believe, in the very marrow of my bones—bones lit with the fire of all our ancestors—that Matthew has been subjected to a grossly unjust experience because of his melanated skin and because of his autism.
It is an experience that is, tragically, common.
One in which we somehow forget our inherent interconnection with one another.
We begin to “Other.” Us versus Them.
We decide who belongs, who doesn’t. Who deserves fairness. Who doesn’t.
Who is right. Who is wrong.
Globally, we have entrained ourselves with a mythology … a complete philosophical—archetypal, even—view of the world that pits us against one another.
It’s the Old Story, pervasive in our psyches, lending itself to all kinds of separation—an eye-for-an-eye, villain/hero, outcast or exile/redeemed and holy. War. Fights against clans, tribes, kin, cousins. Family. Racism. Ableism. Sexism. Classism. Casteism.
You know: All the isms.
There is such a stickiness around this, thick as 400+ year old tar in this case, that prevents us from remembering we are dancing together.
Prevents us from keeping our world safe for our descendants.
Matthew is from Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was a mechanical engineering student at Old Dominion University when he was part of a multiple car accident. The forensic details of this are still being unraveled—nearly 19 months after the accident.
No one died. One person was quite severely injured; this is unfair and profoundly sad.
It is also profoundly unfair and sad that Matthew, who was driving, completely clean and sober, was given a grossly unjust (even negligent) sentence of 50 years in prison … 40 of which were suspended. This was an accident in which there was absolutely no malicious intent.
He has already spent 18+ months in prison.
Because Matthew is autistic, his response to the accident(s) were, and continues to be, misunderstood.
Because he is Black, he was treated injudiciously.
Because of these two combined, he has experienced a kind of brutality and violence against the very essence of who he really is—all the way from those who witnessed or experienced the car accident; to the 17 police officers who descended upon him and interrogated him at the scene for nearly 6 hours without legal representation or his parents being allowed to be present; to the criminal justice system (including his own defense attorney, the prosecution, and the judge); to even now, the prison system, which is not allowing him to seek medical care despite having episodes of blindness likely from the cyst on his brain.
Within hours of the accident, without there possibly being a thorough investigation, Matthew was charged with second degree murder based on the wrongful assumption that he intended to committ suicide.
There are several articles you can read about Matthew and this case over here on NeuroClastic, a non-profit site—including case comparisons in Virginia Beach, VA that clearly show racism and ableism every step of the way.
Matthew is my autistic brother.
He is also your brother.
He is your family.
You might have to go back multiple generations to find a genetic connection, but alas—there most certainly will be one (e.g. if you have any European ancestry, you have common ancestors with everyone else who also has European ancestry. You’re family.).
Matthew’s ancestry, according to his mom, is African American and Guyanese. This includes: Chinese, African, East Indian from India.
So, if you have any of that mix in your blood, you’re even more closely related to Matthew than I am.
We are responsible for one another.
When one of us is hurting, all of us cannot be well.
When one of us experiences gross injustice, the web of our interconnection is not as illuminated, as strong, as bright as it could be.
While Matthew and thousands of others who are being treated unfairly across the globe, in our country, in your town because of their perceived difference or ‘otherness,’ our world is hurting.
Our dance is not as vital as it could be.
Our steps are clumsy. We trip over one another, disconnected from the rhythm of the earth that holds us all together.
I want to dance with you. Consciously.
I want us to take eachother’s hands.
I want you to bring Matthew into your embrace.
Feel his heart beating.
Feel the tenderness of his spirit.
Remember that he is part of your dance of life.
Remember that he is your kin…
…And that there is something you can do.
That there is something we all can do.
ACTION STEPS
To help Matthew right away, please check out this action guide and/or:
Call Governor Northum of Virginia and demand a complete pardon of Matthew
1-804-786-2211, press 1, and leave a message to demand a complete pardon of Matthew Rushin (you don’t have to speak to anyone; there is a script in the action guide above).
Sign the petition to pardon Matthew
Donate to Matthew’s legal fees
Share his story far and wide so it goes viral (there is a script you can copy/paste for social media in the action guide)
Follow the hashtag #freematthewrushin
Follow Matthew’s official social media on Facebook and on Instagram @justice4matthewrushin
Learn more about Matthew and this case
Cover Art by: The Chronic Couple on Facebook and Instagram
Pre-order this art as stickers. All proceeds will go toward Matthew’s legal fund!
This is beautiful – and so ‘right’. Thank you!
So beautiful!!! We will continue in the fight!
yes, we will!!
This is so beautiful! And so “right”.
Oh, thank you so very much, Beth!!! 🙂