Help or Get Out of the Way

To all the so-called allies urging us toward calm and compliance, telling us that nothing has changed, accusing us of playing the victim, telling us we won’t be harassed or abused because this is America, asking us to believe that Trump has simply been playing a role for 70 years so he can ascend to the highest office and show us all what a great guy he secretly was:

We see you.

You know what else we see?

Promises that all Muslims will have to register for a database.

Public Klan celebrations across the country.

Congratulations from Nazis and white supremacists around the world.

Clear parallels to post-Brexit England, where hate crimes have surged.

We feel fear and anger.

Moreover, we feel it’s beyond time to organize.

Yet time and again, when we begin the conversations that would carry us forward, it’s you who step in — to tell us we’re all on the same side, to argue against “reverse racism,” to strap on your capes and say, again and again: not all white people. Not all straight people. Not all cis people. Not here, not now, not me.

I think it’s time you asked yourself what it costs you for us to organize and protect each other.

If you’re right, if this is just another presidency, if none of us are harassed or killed or harmed, what difference does it make to your life that we spoke out loud or online, that we protested or gathered for support, that we helped each other find rides or places to crash when we were afraid?

And if the worst comes to pass, what are the chances that you’ll need the tools and structures we’ve built?

I’m not asking for you to agree. Honestly, I’m too tired to care about convincing anyone who doesn’t see the threat to marginalized lives, or prefers not to.

I’m just asking you to get out of our way.

We have work to do.