Our society is getting angrier, and hatred of people and of groups is growing normalized, or perhaps it has already been normalized. And I have had enough of it. That’s where I am now: sick and tired of the hate.
But you can’t sit around, get disgusted, and do nothing about it. That time has passed. If you call yourself an ally of any group that is being targeted right now—LGBTQ+, Latin American migrants, BIPOC, or anyone else—but you just read or watch the news and shake your head about it, you are an ally in name only. “Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their country,” as some of us learned in typing class.
If you’re a politician, a media pundit, or anyone else who delights in and stokes these divisions, this is where I’ll be, and I’m planning to fight you with every fiber of my being in the best way I know how: by calling out your bullshit. If you’re someone who seeks unity over division, who thinks these attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, Latin American migrants, black and colored people, and a more representative history for all of us is a “first they came for” moment, you have an ally in me.
I grew up in a town where Nazis threatened to march when I was 13 years old, but the community rose up together, provided a united defense, and the Nazis chickened out. In 2017, Nazis and white supremacists were given free reign to march at one of my alma maters, the University of Virginia, and many of the voices of those sworn to protect us acted like it was no big deal, like the white supremacists were there for a legitimate reason, and “there were good people on both sides.”
As for us, the citizens of this country, we have a choice: call out the bullshit when people stoke hate, or expect a lot more of the same, because it steamrolls. “First they came for,” until there was nobody left to stand up for anyone else.
I believe the good people out there who are tired of this hate vastly outnumber those who are okay with it. But being tired of something, being fearful for our fellow citizens and children, and not speaking out is not an option anymore. People’s lives are at stake, and I believe our nation and way of life are at stake as well. If we’re not going to speak out against this hate, especially when it’s directed toward people who are different than we are, we’re going to find that hate directed at us eventually, and we’re going to get the world we deserve.
In the coming pages, days, and Oxford comma’d weeks, I will ponder what is obvious to me in our politics, our media, and our lives: our fellow human beings and fellow citizens are being attacked for who. they. are. This hate will not stand.
Now go forth and speak out.
