I read an article online at The Washington Post today about anti-gay activist, Bishop Harry Jackson, from Maryland. I have to admit I did not fully understand Jackson's argument against marriage equality until this article; and now that I know, it sounds even more absurd. Bishop Jackson's basic premise is that passing marriage equality will force the Black family into extinction. Of all the arguments one could propose, that registers right around letting people marry goats. What I would say about this argument in the company of close friends is probably not appropriate for an articulate, academically-based response so I will leave that behind closed doors. I will, however, like to challenge Bishop Jackson on the facts. His argument, while valid in his mind, has no merit in reality.
"If you redefine marriage, you have to redefine family. You'd have to redefine parenting. I'm looking at the extinction of marriage. And black culture is in a free fall." Really Bishop Jackson? Gay people are causing the extinction of marriage? How you forget your history, Sir. The disillusionment of the black family dates back to slavery. Slaves were brought to shore and then ripped from their immediate family, unrecognized as people so the thought of them marrying was obviously unheard of. The men were emasculated by slave owners who made them watch as they raped their "wives"; the children were stolen from parents and bred. The whole idea of gender and sexuality in the black community was an institution defined by slave owners. When black slaves were finally freed, the established roles of men and women were drastically skewed from what we might call normal today. Even in the period after the Great Depression, the institution of marriage and the idea of divorce centered mainly around financial interests.
Whether you call it marginalization, institutional hegemony, or cultural shifts, the Black family was endangered long before the gays came along. Black people are not getting married because we've stopped focusing on each other and started focusing on ourselves, the "get mine" mentality. Our grandmothers are in their 30s instead of in their 50s or 60s, teenage pregnancy rates are rising while access to family planning and contraception is dwindling. Black men are being taught that "pimping" and "Ballin" is the new fad; who needs to settle down and have one wife when you can have all the hoes that you want? When the hit songs have lyrics like, "I wish I could f**k every girl in the world", and "Have a baby by me, be a millionaire", the finger should clearly be pointing inward.
Gay people didn't do that, black people did. Black people go out and support the indecency that degrades our women, black people flock to read "The Down Low" but never ask themselves what institutions are set in place to make these men not be comfortable with coming out.
"I don't know of anybody black who says, 'I hate gay people'. But you overlap that -- homosexuality and gay marriage -- with broken families, and we don't know how to put it back together." I'll tell you how, Bishop Jackson. Increase child support laws and penalties, improve sex education in inner-city schools, start supporting more shows like "The Cosby's" and less shows like "House of Payne". Use some of the money you're raising for discrimination and hold couples counseling and relationship outreach. Support women's health and access to contraception. Get the young men in your congregation to understand that it's not cool to get three women pregnant at the same time, no matter what Lil' Wayne says.
And most important of all, let the gays get married so the gay, black families, who hang by a thread of law, will have some validity. They will be able to teach their children the importance of a loving, committed relationship. Perhaps the number of Black men who are stepping out on their wives, for other men, will decrease.
Allow gay people to adopt so that underprivileged children, whom most gays end up adopting, will grow up in loving families with two parents. Your concern is centered around the erosion of the Black family and yet your campaign is based on breaking up Black families. Yes, Bishop Jackson, there are gay black people. The whole idea that approving marriage equality will contribute to the deterioration of the black family is laughable. Perhaps your time would be better spent on a campaign to ban divorce.
You can find the article on Bishop Jackson's righteous campaign here:
http://tinyurl.com/ykxkb3l
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Hypocrisy of Bigotry
As I watched the testimonies for and against the DC Marriage Equality and Religious Freedom act, what troubled me the most were all the brown faces testifying against equality. Most of their arguments were religious-based and included declarations of what "God" wants and what the Bible says. It is baffling that in the face of the immense discrimination that we have suffered as African Americans, there are still people ready to throw stones at another group who is discriminated against.
I'm an urban twenty-something, very likely half the age of the majority of anti-equality testifiers; but I grew up in a world where race was as much a factor as it wasn't. I was called a nigger at the early age of six, and though I knew it was wrong, it didn't stop me from being friends with people from every culture. People in my generation, for the most part, don't view race as starkly as people in my mother's generation do. In our world, discrimination is not about black versus white, it's about oppression versus anti-oppression. Yes, there are cultural disparages, even in the gay movement, but at the end of the day, what separates us is pro-LGBT and Anti-LGBT ideals.
That premise blends the color line drastically. In regards to the DC equality movement, you have people of all cultures advocating for equal rights and people of one predominate culture advocating against it: the African American religious fringe. This is particularly ironic, given that a majority of black congregations have a sizable LGBT population. And besides the obvious Stockholm syndrome of LGBT members of anti-gay churches, the history of Christianity and oppression in the black community should be argument enough for the opposition to take a look at what their argument is really saying.
African Americans didn't come here preaching Christianity. We were brought in chains, we were ripped from our language, our families, our culture, and our spiritual beliefs. Christianity was forced upon us by slave owners as a means to dissipate any potential unity. Fast forward three hundred years or so, Blacks were made to believe they had to straighten their hair, get rid of their slang, and assimilate fully into mainstream culture to be regarded as human. They could not marry someone of a different race, hell up until the 19th century, blacks were only 3/5 of a person. All of these institutions, anti-miscegenation, slavery, and voting rights were supported and prolonged by religious ideologies. Those same ideologies that said in essence, "you are the other; in order to be tolerated, you must be invisible". This is where the civil rights movement and the equal rights movement bear close resemblance.
By refusing to acknowledge LGBT people and relationships, we send a message that LGBT people are somehow the other. Black LGBT people, suffer the impact of marginalization two-fold, dealing with bigotry not only from racial discrimination, but from religious persecution. The same people who withstood fire hoses and beatings, who see what hate crimes and intolerance do to a people, have the audacity to seek to marginalize another group of people in the name of a "lord" that wasn't theirs to begin with. We as a people need to wake up and start acknowledging that the hatred for our gay brothers and sisters is doing nothing but perpetuating the denigration of our culture, killing our women, and holding us back from reaching Martin Luther King Jr's "promise land."
For more information on homophobia in Black churches, please join Metropolitan Network Against Homophobia for a panel discussion. 6:30 PM on Tuesday, November 10th at The Sumner School 1201 17th Street NW Washington, DC Inside Lecture Hall 102. More information can be found here: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/eve/1446274447.html
I'm an urban twenty-something, very likely half the age of the majority of anti-equality testifiers; but I grew up in a world where race was as much a factor as it wasn't. I was called a nigger at the early age of six, and though I knew it was wrong, it didn't stop me from being friends with people from every culture. People in my generation, for the most part, don't view race as starkly as people in my mother's generation do. In our world, discrimination is not about black versus white, it's about oppression versus anti-oppression. Yes, there are cultural disparages, even in the gay movement, but at the end of the day, what separates us is pro-LGBT and Anti-LGBT ideals.
That premise blends the color line drastically. In regards to the DC equality movement, you have people of all cultures advocating for equal rights and people of one predominate culture advocating against it: the African American religious fringe. This is particularly ironic, given that a majority of black congregations have a sizable LGBT population. And besides the obvious Stockholm syndrome of LGBT members of anti-gay churches, the history of Christianity and oppression in the black community should be argument enough for the opposition to take a look at what their argument is really saying.
African Americans didn't come here preaching Christianity. We were brought in chains, we were ripped from our language, our families, our culture, and our spiritual beliefs. Christianity was forced upon us by slave owners as a means to dissipate any potential unity. Fast forward three hundred years or so, Blacks were made to believe they had to straighten their hair, get rid of their slang, and assimilate fully into mainstream culture to be regarded as human. They could not marry someone of a different race, hell up until the 19th century, blacks were only 3/5 of a person. All of these institutions, anti-miscegenation, slavery, and voting rights were supported and prolonged by religious ideologies. Those same ideologies that said in essence, "you are the other; in order to be tolerated, you must be invisible". This is where the civil rights movement and the equal rights movement bear close resemblance.
By refusing to acknowledge LGBT people and relationships, we send a message that LGBT people are somehow the other. Black LGBT people, suffer the impact of marginalization two-fold, dealing with bigotry not only from racial discrimination, but from religious persecution. The same people who withstood fire hoses and beatings, who see what hate crimes and intolerance do to a people, have the audacity to seek to marginalize another group of people in the name of a "lord" that wasn't theirs to begin with. We as a people need to wake up and start acknowledging that the hatred for our gay brothers and sisters is doing nothing but perpetuating the denigration of our culture, killing our women, and holding us back from reaching Martin Luther King Jr's "promise land."
For more information on homophobia in Black churches, please join Metropolitan Network Against Homophobia for a panel discussion. 6:30 PM on Tuesday, November 10th at The Sumner School 1201 17th Street NW Washington, DC Inside Lecture Hall 102. More information can be found here: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/eve/1446274447.html
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sprinting to the Colorblind Finish Line
The National Equality March weekend begins in a few days and buzz is building throughout the community. Despite the criticism for the leadership's lack of organization, it is pivotal that we pull out big numbers for the march. For once, we can learn a lesson from republicans: stick together, be "homo", homogeneous that is.
More importantly, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Act of DC was introduced to the council this Tuesday, October 6th; announced by openly-gay DC council member David Catania at the 1st Annual LGBT Convocation for Marriage Equality last Wednesday.
It appears someone was listening when bloggers suggested moving forward with outreach and grassroots efforts. DC is a many-fibered diaspora of histories, cultures and struggles; it took an outside voice to make us realize we should be taking advantage of that.
Rev. Eric E. Lee of the Southern Christian Leadership laid out several points about diversity and solidarity in the movement in his speech at the convocation. "There are five tenets in organizing [all carrying over into one another]," said Lee. "Education, organization, mobilization, agitation and transformation." In CA, he mentioned, equality activists fell short of what they needed to do to frame the movement as a civil rights issue. While this can be a touchy subject, especially for African Americans, I feel we need to tackle the issue head on. DC could be the poster child for the world in regards to the equality movement. The LGBT community pays taxes like our straight counterparts, but not only do we not have a vote, we are at the mercy of congress to decide what rights we should have. We are a community without a voice and we must address that.
Our mobilization must include outreach and education to the people; per Rev. Lee's advice, we should also address the discrimination that exists within our community. "Justice must be universal," and not only will it strengthen us as a group, it will provide the rest of the world with an example of how to do diversity correctly. While simultaneously addressing our own prejudices, we must contact the moderate voters. We know now, from several preceding social movements, that targeting and trying to change minds of the extremists is a futile operation. We are not going to convince someone, who is fiercely against equal rights, to come all the way over to our side; however, the ones sitting on the fence may just need a little push.
Rev. Lee thoroughly explained agitation in the community, an area I think we're making improvements in. Instead of trying to change extremists minds, we need to call them on their discrimination with articulate and well formed arguments. According to Lee, "[We must be] an irritant in a society where the blemish of discrimination must be washed out. Do not bear the burden of oppression; it is not your responsibility. Make the oppressors defend their discrimination!" Powerful words with a more significant meaning. We must be out, we must practice solidarity by enlisting our allies to speak on our behalf. In order to transform the movement into an unstoppable force, we need people to join together and actively practice anti-oppression. That means speaking up when you hear the word "fag", or stopping your buddies from bullying a kid with anti-gay slurs. We need to stop being spectators and get on the field. We need our congressional representatives on the line and our sneakers on the street. We are sprinting to the finish line, standing shoulder to shoulder, with every color of our rainbow pride flag.
Information about the National Equality March can be found here:
http://www.hrc.org/13519.htm
More importantly, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Act of DC was introduced to the council this Tuesday, October 6th; announced by openly-gay DC council member David Catania at the 1st Annual LGBT Convocation for Marriage Equality last Wednesday.
It appears someone was listening when bloggers suggested moving forward with outreach and grassroots efforts. DC is a many-fibered diaspora of histories, cultures and struggles; it took an outside voice to make us realize we should be taking advantage of that.
Rev. Eric E. Lee of the Southern Christian Leadership laid out several points about diversity and solidarity in the movement in his speech at the convocation. "There are five tenets in organizing [all carrying over into one another]," said Lee. "Education, organization, mobilization, agitation and transformation." In CA, he mentioned, equality activists fell short of what they needed to do to frame the movement as a civil rights issue. While this can be a touchy subject, especially for African Americans, I feel we need to tackle the issue head on. DC could be the poster child for the world in regards to the equality movement. The LGBT community pays taxes like our straight counterparts, but not only do we not have a vote, we are at the mercy of congress to decide what rights we should have. We are a community without a voice and we must address that.
Our mobilization must include outreach and education to the people; per Rev. Lee's advice, we should also address the discrimination that exists within our community. "Justice must be universal," and not only will it strengthen us as a group, it will provide the rest of the world with an example of how to do diversity correctly. While simultaneously addressing our own prejudices, we must contact the moderate voters. We know now, from several preceding social movements, that targeting and trying to change minds of the extremists is a futile operation. We are not going to convince someone, who is fiercely against equal rights, to come all the way over to our side; however, the ones sitting on the fence may just need a little push.
Rev. Lee thoroughly explained agitation in the community, an area I think we're making improvements in. Instead of trying to change extremists minds, we need to call them on their discrimination with articulate and well formed arguments. According to Lee, "[We must be] an irritant in a society where the blemish of discrimination must be washed out. Do not bear the burden of oppression; it is not your responsibility. Make the oppressors defend their discrimination!" Powerful words with a more significant meaning. We must be out, we must practice solidarity by enlisting our allies to speak on our behalf. In order to transform the movement into an unstoppable force, we need people to join together and actively practice anti-oppression. That means speaking up when you hear the word "fag", or stopping your buddies from bullying a kid with anti-gay slurs. We need to stop being spectators and get on the field. We need our congressional representatives on the line and our sneakers on the street. We are sprinting to the finish line, standing shoulder to shoulder, with every color of our rainbow pride flag.
Information about the National Equality March can be found here:
http://www.hrc.org/13519.htm
Friday, September 11, 2009
Old Fight, New Flavor
Today brought news that 2 out of the 3 DMV areas were taking steps toward marriage equality. Even in the heat of the fiery health care debate, DC and Maryland are on the way to passing some key legislation. Now, more than ever, it is of the utmost importance for minorities, especially African Americans, to mobilize.
The fight over same-sex marriage in DC will more than likely be drawn on racial lines; apparently, according to marriage opponents, there are either no gay Black people or being Black means you can't possibly believe in marriage equality. This is not only wholly untrue, but completely underestimates the amount of Black, gay people who live in the DMV. We are out there, just come to Mezza Luna on 1st Saturdays or Saki Lounge on last Sundays. If the amount of people who pack into the club on Saturday night could spend Saturday afternoon canvassing in their neighborhoods, Black LGBT people could have a strong voice in DC.
If this reads like a slight criticism of the black gay community, it is. We partied all night during Black Pride weekend but couldn't get up on Sunday to go to the festival at Love Nightclub. We talk so much about how we want equality but don't want to come to any council meetings. Now, I will say there was an excellent turnout at the Ward 8 meeting a few months ago but we still have a long way to go. Yes, there is still racism/classism within the gay community but that should be no excuse for us not to fight for our rights in our hometown. When Michael Crawford gets on TV and talks about what he's doing to aid our efforts, we should be in the background waving at the camera, soaked in sweat and hoarse from all the outreach we've done.
Black people make up 55% of DC's population; the highest demographic in DC. Now you know why they call it Chocolate City, if you didn't know already. Being black and gay means making a community of your own; you have to battle racism in mainstream society and homophobia in your own culture. For many, it's not an easy line to walk, so we have things like men on the down-low and you garden-variety "convenient" gays. This has to stop. We have to stand up for each other. We have to be brave and vigilant and we have to make our voices heard.
The fight is here and we're sitting outside the ropes. We need to take each other by the hand and step into the ring. We cannot let Bishop Jackson speak for "us", we have to speak for ourselves. Black history is loaded with people who have done extraordinary things in the face of great adversity. The path has already been laid before us. Regardless of disagreements within the movement, we must make this our fight. This is our lunch counter, only this time the people who don't want to let us sit down look like us. The outcome of this fight will be determined by how many people we can mobilize. If it comes down to a vote, we'll hit the streets; if it gets held up in congress, we'll call our representatives. We can do this, we ca win this fight.
Stand up, speak out, fight on!
Washington Post Article on DC Marriage Laws: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/10/AR2009091004414.html
The fight over same-sex marriage in DC will more than likely be drawn on racial lines; apparently, according to marriage opponents, there are either no gay Black people or being Black means you can't possibly believe in marriage equality. This is not only wholly untrue, but completely underestimates the amount of Black, gay people who live in the DMV. We are out there, just come to Mezza Luna on 1st Saturdays or Saki Lounge on last Sundays. If the amount of people who pack into the club on Saturday night could spend Saturday afternoon canvassing in their neighborhoods, Black LGBT people could have a strong voice in DC.
If this reads like a slight criticism of the black gay community, it is. We partied all night during Black Pride weekend but couldn't get up on Sunday to go to the festival at Love Nightclub. We talk so much about how we want equality but don't want to come to any council meetings. Now, I will say there was an excellent turnout at the Ward 8 meeting a few months ago but we still have a long way to go. Yes, there is still racism/classism within the gay community but that should be no excuse for us not to fight for our rights in our hometown. When Michael Crawford gets on TV and talks about what he's doing to aid our efforts, we should be in the background waving at the camera, soaked in sweat and hoarse from all the outreach we've done.
Black people make up 55% of DC's population; the highest demographic in DC. Now you know why they call it Chocolate City, if you didn't know already. Being black and gay means making a community of your own; you have to battle racism in mainstream society and homophobia in your own culture. For many, it's not an easy line to walk, so we have things like men on the down-low and you garden-variety "convenient" gays. This has to stop. We have to stand up for each other. We have to be brave and vigilant and we have to make our voices heard.
The fight is here and we're sitting outside the ropes. We need to take each other by the hand and step into the ring. We cannot let Bishop Jackson speak for "us", we have to speak for ourselves. Black history is loaded with people who have done extraordinary things in the face of great adversity. The path has already been laid before us. Regardless of disagreements within the movement, we must make this our fight. This is our lunch counter, only this time the people who don't want to let us sit down look like us. The outcome of this fight will be determined by how many people we can mobilize. If it comes down to a vote, we'll hit the streets; if it gets held up in congress, we'll call our representatives. We can do this, we ca win this fight.
Stand up, speak out, fight on!
Washington Post Article on DC Marriage Laws: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/10/AR2009091004414.html
Friday, September 4, 2009
How Far We Have Not Come
In the era of the 24-hour news cycle, Twitter, pod-casts and the like, it seems Americans have run out of substantive things to say. One could argue that giving "everyone" a medium to express themselves might not have been the best thing after all. It is almost impossible to turn on the television and simultaneously fight the urge to become cynical about the direction of our nation. Everyday, lately, more and more attention is given to right-wing "Astro-turf" groups bombarding the health care debate. The Glenn Becks of the world are multiplying and the Edward R. Murrows are becoming extinct. America needs to flip on a signal light and throw a "U-ey" ASAP! The utter lack of respect we have relegated ourselves to is shameful.
I remember a time, not long ago, when end-of-the-spectrum egocentrics had a platform. It was called AM radio, and it gave them all day long to spew their extremist nonsense to a base of, say, twenty people. Families gathered Friday night and watched TGIF without commenting on the political implications of Steve Urkel cloning himself. The idea of disrespecting an elected official was rare and frankly unheard of. Criticism was delivered via civil discourse and not shouted at someone in a public forum. No matter what you may have thought of them behind closed doors, it was poor taste to bring that speech outside of the home. One could argue that technology has made us stupid and complacent, to which some blame could be delegated. The predominant culpability, however, is our own. Our apathetic fabrication of complacency has contributed to the lack of common courtesy in our country.
I was baffled to see the news of people in uproar over President Obama's address to grade-school children. The white house has to "pitch" the idea of a presidential address to the nation's schools. Pardon my poor use of language but are you freaking kidding me? The president has taken time out of his schedule to address a bunch of kids, who can't even vote, about the importance of working hard, staying in school, and becoming active in their communities and there's a question of the politics behind it? What the hell is wrong with people? There was no uproar when President Bush Sr. addressed schools, nor were people upset about Regan's school-time address. They were even okay with President Bush reading a book while New York and DC were under attack. The audacity that people must possess to even suggest they need to "review" his address before deciding if it's sensible enough to show to their kids. Why are we even giving these people airtime? He's the President! Whether he wants to address schools, churches, or Porto-potties it should be his prerogative. I'm sorry but I don't see how knowing that the President of the United States, yes including Texas, is counting on you to excel in your education is a bad thing for someone to hear.
America, we used to be better. The blatant disrespect of this president and his administration should not be tolerated. Criticism is one thing, but we have sank into an abyss of tawdriness. We don't even treat each other with common courtesy anymore. This past week, at one of the famous-but shouldn't be-town hall meetings, a sick woman in a wheelchair was berated with abhorrent rudeness from the audience. She sat calmly and prefaced her question while people shouted at her like she was a dog. Is this how we treat people now? Are we so self-absorbed that we don't care if we hurt others? Are we so polarized that we're reinventing ourselves into the new Montagues & Capulets, destined to bury ourselves in our own hatred?
We need an attitude adjustment; whatever has taken us down this road of verbal diarrhea needs a fierce application of Pepto Bismol. We need to stop being so self-important, stop living in blissful ignorance and start to relate to each other again in a way that doesn't involve 140 characters or less.
We need to acknowledge and own up to the prevalent existence of racism, homophobia and bigotry. We enable outright rudeness by standing idly and shaking our heads while people rip each other apart. This must stop! Bullies get power not from their victims, but from their audiences, people who do nothing. The right-wing and the bible-freaks aren't our greatest enemies; complacency is the thing that will tear our civilization apart. Albert Einstein said it best, “The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”
Why step up on this soapbox? It's not that I hate this country, on the contrary, I love this country. I love it for its history, its great potential and it's pride. I love it because its the only way to truly change it. You will fight for something you love before you'll fight for something you hate. Conservatives are always going on about progressives being un-American but it's the other way around. The very definition of progress should speak for itself. History is on our side and we have the chance to create a better tomorrow. Let's make sure we get there by shaking our brother's hands instead of stepping on them.
I remember a time, not long ago, when end-of-the-spectrum egocentrics had a platform. It was called AM radio, and it gave them all day long to spew their extremist nonsense to a base of, say, twenty people. Families gathered Friday night and watched TGIF without commenting on the political implications of Steve Urkel cloning himself. The idea of disrespecting an elected official was rare and frankly unheard of. Criticism was delivered via civil discourse and not shouted at someone in a public forum. No matter what you may have thought of them behind closed doors, it was poor taste to bring that speech outside of the home. One could argue that technology has made us stupid and complacent, to which some blame could be delegated. The predominant culpability, however, is our own. Our apathetic fabrication of complacency has contributed to the lack of common courtesy in our country.
I was baffled to see the news of people in uproar over President Obama's address to grade-school children. The white house has to "pitch" the idea of a presidential address to the nation's schools. Pardon my poor use of language but are you freaking kidding me? The president has taken time out of his schedule to address a bunch of kids, who can't even vote, about the importance of working hard, staying in school, and becoming active in their communities and there's a question of the politics behind it? What the hell is wrong with people? There was no uproar when President Bush Sr. addressed schools, nor were people upset about Regan's school-time address. They were even okay with President Bush reading a book while New York and DC were under attack. The audacity that people must possess to even suggest they need to "review" his address before deciding if it's sensible enough to show to their kids. Why are we even giving these people airtime? He's the President! Whether he wants to address schools, churches, or Porto-potties it should be his prerogative. I'm sorry but I don't see how knowing that the President of the United States, yes including Texas, is counting on you to excel in your education is a bad thing for someone to hear.
America, we used to be better. The blatant disrespect of this president and his administration should not be tolerated. Criticism is one thing, but we have sank into an abyss of tawdriness. We don't even treat each other with common courtesy anymore. This past week, at one of the famous-but shouldn't be-town hall meetings, a sick woman in a wheelchair was berated with abhorrent rudeness from the audience. She sat calmly and prefaced her question while people shouted at her like she was a dog. Is this how we treat people now? Are we so self-absorbed that we don't care if we hurt others? Are we so polarized that we're reinventing ourselves into the new Montagues & Capulets, destined to bury ourselves in our own hatred?
We need an attitude adjustment; whatever has taken us down this road of verbal diarrhea needs a fierce application of Pepto Bismol. We need to stop being so self-important, stop living in blissful ignorance and start to relate to each other again in a way that doesn't involve 140 characters or less.
We need to acknowledge and own up to the prevalent existence of racism, homophobia and bigotry. We enable outright rudeness by standing idly and shaking our heads while people rip each other apart. This must stop! Bullies get power not from their victims, but from their audiences, people who do nothing. The right-wing and the bible-freaks aren't our greatest enemies; complacency is the thing that will tear our civilization apart. Albert Einstein said it best, “The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”
Why step up on this soapbox? It's not that I hate this country, on the contrary, I love this country. I love it for its history, its great potential and it's pride. I love it because its the only way to truly change it. You will fight for something you love before you'll fight for something you hate. Conservatives are always going on about progressives being un-American but it's the other way around. The very definition of progress should speak for itself. History is on our side and we have the chance to create a better tomorrow. Let's make sure we get there by shaking our brother's hands instead of stepping on them.
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