As always, we have a lot to be angry about, and there is a lot of work to be done. Tomorrow, the people in power will be right back to trying to kill us and I’ll be right back to calling them out for it … but for now I’d like to call a quick time out and share something that I said to someone earlier today.
This person had been arguing with me more or less about the existence of privilege and racism. I responded mostly with clear explanations of why those things are real and why they matter, and most of what I got from him was mindless denial and a sort of incoherent rage because I wouldn’t just shut up and let him be right. Which, whatever. I’m used to that. He kept throwing variations of the phrase “crazy liberal” at me. (I’m actually more of a democratic socialist than a liberal, but I decided it wasn’t the time to argue the finer points of political theory.) And you know, I think we’ve all heard that phrase, haven’t we? “Crazy liberal”? I don’t know about you, but I usually think of it as meaningless screeching. But this time was different. Something he said while he was raving about how we “social justice warriors” were finally going to get ours and we were never going to win—he said that so many times, that we weren’t going to win, I felt like I was Luke Skywalker arguing with Emperor Palpatine—made me realize that “crazy liberal” actually means something. It’s not just a throwaway phrase.
In response, with no forethought, this is what I said to him. And even though it was off-the-cuff and not phrased perhaps as elegantly as I’d like, it came straight from my heart, and I meant every word. Mean every word. Here it is, just the way I said it to him (minus some slight commentary that makes no sense out of context):
I think I get it. I think I really do understand.
You literally cannot comprehend someone caring so much about someone who isn’t “like” them that they’d fight for those people, till the end if need be. You really do think it’s “crazy” to care about people who don’t look like you, worship like you, eat like you, whatever.
I think that’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard.
Whether we win or don’t, I will never regret fighting for what is right, and my life is richer because I do. My life is richer because I value, REALLY value, people who don’t look like me from the outside. The people who care about other people, they are my real tribe. Just because we don’t look the same or wear the same types of clothes or go to the same buildings on Sundays—that means less than nothing. These people are my family. I’ve already won.
And you are. If you are fighting against this terrible new world order that is trying to smother us, or if you are fighting for air, we are family. Which, despite this new dystopian hot mess, is actually kind of wonderful.
