Charlottesville Solidarity Vigil

On Sunday night (8/13/17) San Diego held a vigil for Heather Heyer, the victim of a white supremacist terror attack. Like many others I felt I needed to do *something* to show my support for her and for those that stood up against white nationalism. The vigil was attended by a couple hundred people of various backgrounds. There was a lot of comfort in seeing a community thousands of miles away from Charlottesville come together to express solidarity. There was singing, there was crying, and there was a lot of hugging. All these things are needed and are comforting

But.....

It isn't enough. If we are only coming together to mourn the loss of those fighting against Nazis and white nationalist, we will be doing a lot of mourning, a lot of singing. and a lot of hugging.

It is well past time that we (here I specifically mean white people) stop making our Black, Jewish, LGBTQ, Latinx, and Muslim friends be the front line against white nationalism. It is time to have uncomfortable conversations with your family and friends. It is time to call out those that propagate hate, it is time to recognize our complicity in allowing hate to prosper because it doesn't effect us.

I have often looked at images from the Selma march and wondered "if I was alive then where would I have stood?" Would I have stood with "law and order" or would I have stood with justice?

Would I have stood with the families of law enforcement as they watched their husbands/fathers beat the marchers? Would I have stood at home and ignored the whole thing, because it isn't about me?
I don't know where I would have stood then, but I know where I stand now.

Vigils are nice, but actions are better

Below are links to various groups that help fight against white nationalism (in varying ways)

SPLC

Redneck Revolt

Life After Hate

Things I Think I Think

I haven't made a real post in over 2 years and I know my thoughts on a lot of things have changed in that time. Looking back through some of my old posts and I find myself cringing a bit, but I think it is nice to be able to see my progress (or maybe some would say regress) into my current views. I'm writing this post as a way to document my current views (who knows what 2 more years will bring) and also to update anyone unlucky enough to stumble on this blog down the line. This will be a hodgepodge of ideas that I'm willing to defend.

Things I think I think

I understand and sympathize with calls for non violence in activism, I also think apathy/status quo is also in support of violence just violence they can more easily excuse

I think a secular society can and should make reasonable exceptions for religious beliefs, but also the religious must do the same. Example: a religious person whose beliefs forbid them from handling alcohol can still be hired at a supermarket with the understanding they would not have to handle alcohol. That same religious person must also understand that they are limited in the jobs they can promote into because of this restriction.

I think it can be (and is) true that HRC and Democrats ran a bad campaign and Trump and/or his campaign colluded with Russians to help win the 2016 election

I think Democrats need to do more to acknowledge that trade agreements can have a negative impact on people in America without appeasing the racism/xenophobia that is prevalent amongst Trump supporters

I think that there is some white supremacist like thoughts that ran deep in some of Bernie Sanders most ardent online supporters

I think that liberals/Democrats that are more concerned with "law and order" over justice would happily sacrifice PoC and LGBTQ people if it meant there lives didn't change

I think we all need to read more literature by black authors

I think the phrase "communism will win" is idealistic and foolish given the current state of leftist politics in the west

I think far too many leftist care more for disagreeing with the west than they do with caring for the marginalized

I think I'm a leftist, but I don't know what kind

I think the best political/social movements are rife with infighting and have many legit criticisms from the inside

I think the United States will no longer be united by the year 2050

I think optics matter when partaking in ground level activism


If anyone wants me to further expand  on any of these ideas send me a message on twitter @MWUnicorn

Thank you for reading