Came across this elsewhere, and it seems a good reminder of how the Civil Rights fight was actually won.
Successfully fighting for civil rights requires multiple parallel strategies, *and those "lanes" can't overlap*. Someone who's protecting people, for instance, needs to be squeaky clean, legally, so the baddies don't have a pretext to come after them and the people they're protecting--which means they can't be showing up to disruptive protests in person.
My lane is Protecting People. I work to empower, educate, and protect trans folks from the dangers we all face, which is why I've historically tried to focus on trans science and empowerment in my writing, and why I'm going to be doubling down on that approach going forward.
It's not that I don't see the political realities. I very much do. It's not that I don't believe in our ends, or that I don't believe in the power of protest. I EXTREMELY do.
But those protesters need rest and rhetorical ammunition for their part of the fight. I can give that to them.
The folks inside those civic institutions, who are resisting oppressive laws and fighting to expand our freedoms, need external justifications to represent themselves as reasonable dealmakers who can speak for the community. I can give that to them.
These are just a couple of examples, by the way. There's lots more that people in each lane need and can benefit from in the other 3.
This is why it's critical for us to not eat our own. This is what it means to build community.
None of us wins alone.
Identify your lane. Identify what you need people in other lanes to do to bolster you, and how your acts can bolster them.
If you're clean hands (protectors & institutionalists), *keep your hands clean*. If you're dirty hands (disruptors and organizers), *don't drag people in other lanes into your work unless they step forward*.
We need all four lanes to win.
@Impossible_PhD
People need to drop allegiance to purity.
I will criticize someone one moment, and the next champion and defend them.
We can't afford to lose anyone.
Exactly.
We lack the luxury of internecine conflict especially when that conflict quickly is weaponized by our adversaries.
We can quibble about the differences between us when we don’t have to tapdance backwards in heels through minefields.
@ruthan
Got any links or zines? beyond Neurodivergent Insights https://neurodivergentinsights.com/blog idk where might cover "flexible goal-focused communication with people in a tentative alliance" or similar
Thank you for this.
I too am in the Protect lane.
I used to feel miserable that I was not doing as much as those in other lanes. This helps recontextualize the situation for me, allows me to not only be proud of what I’m doing but give clear definition to my roles and define my operational parameters.
@Impossible_PhD this resonates
from my experience in the Los Angeles area in the late 80s...:
the AIDS walks were new, radical things, and the people who showed up in force were often lesbians, the lowest risk group; women who would not be vilified for having the dread scary disease.
when the clinic defenses were in force against the odious "Operation Rescue", participants would meet in advance and get coaching about how not to engage with the "other side". that was left to ACT UP.
*ACT UP*
@Impossible_PhD I don't know how the hell we got to the point where we somehow require protestors or activists, only on the center or left, to be persons without a personal interest in what's being protested, but there it is.
we should break out of that mindset.
meanwhile your thread fully resonates
Doc Impossible
Wendy "Casio" 🏳️⚧️
Aphrodite (recharging)
leading cackle influencer
Mx Verda
Jessamyn
draNgNon