A Mother’s Quest for Justice in a Lawless Mexican State

2022 Emerson Collective Fellow Azam Ahmed's book Fear is Just a Word was reviewed in the New York Times.

It is not easy to write about violence. Potential pitfalls lurk at every turn of phrase: the re-victimization of victims, the appropriation of other people’s suffering and pain, the rendering of real evil as banal, to name a few. Ahmed writes about violence in Mexico with insight and sobriety, avoiding the usual markers of journalistic prose (descriptions of the research process, references to site visits). Instead, he maintains a cautious, at times exhilarating, distance from his material, letting the story unfold at a rapid pace, as if on its own, interweaving the contextual and the intimate in a series of vivid juxtapositions.

He saves his commentary for the epilogue, when he joins Miriam’s son on a visit to the ranch where Karen was murdered. There he witnesses a chilling discovery, one that will serve only to perpetuate the violence and impunity. Fear Is Just a Word doesn’t let us forget that the commitment, courage and integrity of people like Miriam Rodríguez constitute our hope to end this cycle. But, as Ahmed is also painfully aware, that hope hinges on our organizing capacity, our care as a community and, ultimately, our stubbornness.