This article is going to contain strong language, because there are no poetic literary devices or well-worded prose that can describe inequality, racism, bigotry, hate, and ignorance.
I am not an expert, and I am white. I am here to listen, learn, and adjust my behavior. I am here to stand in full support of Black Lives Matter, and in full antagony and outrage against Trump. I am a queer bi woman who will do everything in my power to vote and advocate for the removal of the racist, bigoted, and homophobic bastard out of office.
This is no longer about politics it is about civil rights, in which there can be no compromise. My personal civil rights are threatened by Trump being in office and so are those of every minority group in the country. Black people are dying. Basic health care rights for transgender people are being stripped away. A country founded by immigrants is making people illegal. Environmental protections have been removed – and that is just the rotten bloody tip of the melted fucking iceberg.
That should outrage the hell out of you. If it doesn’t, then you need to figure out why. In fact, I have a few questions for you:
- Are you white?
- Are you a man?
- Are you straight and cisgendered?
If you answered yes to any or all of those questions, and you aren’t willing to listen to minority groups or acknowledge your ignorance – I encourage you to take this as an opportunity to change your mind. Take a look at what’s happening, take a look at who you are, and ask yourself how that affects your views of what’s going on. I know I have family members and acquaintances who still support Trump or aren’t going to vote. I am personally asking you to dig deep, reconsider, and look at the hurt and pain that is going on in this country right now.
June 12th was the anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting that killed 49 people and wounded 53 others. June is Pride month. On this day Trump’s administration rolled back medical protections for LGBTQ+ Americans, specifically targeting transgender patients. That is an attack on every member of the LGBTQ+ community, myself included.
These policy changes might not directly affect you, but they absolutely affect me. At this point, if you support Trump you’re against my rights. If you are not going to vote that is one in the same. You’re against the rights of those who are black, indigenous, LGBTQ+, people of color, and every other underrepresented group, and intersections of underrepresented groups who exist in this country.
Think about that.
Furthermore, if you utter the words “All Lives Matter” you’ve missed the fucking point. Revert to questions 1-3.
That being said, none of this started with Trump. Racism has been intentionally allowed to persist in our country, and it is about damn time we open our eyes and fight to stop it.
This is a conservation and hiking blog, but for the time being Hiking for Wildness is replaced with Hiking for Justice. Environmental justice can not exist without social justice. I don’t know everything, and am the first to acknowledge that I have a lot to learn. I will make mistakes talking about this, I will correct myself, but I am here to support Black Lives, Trans Lives, Black Trans Lives and all of the most marginalized groups in our society.
Just to reiterate: Black Lives Matter, and Fuck racism.
Transphobia can burn in hell too.
Just to reiterate: Black Lives Matter, and Fuck racism.
Transphobia can burn in hell too.
Let’s talk about what we can do to make ourselves better, to make our communities better, and to begin to dismantle the bricks of white supremacy. Silence is not an option. If you would like more resources on this, please reach out to me.
Below are two poems meant to inspire action.
“Staying Out of It”
Silence is decayed good intention. Sweltered and rotted in a meek tepid knot of compliance.
Averted eyes as a life bleeds out in a puddle on the floor. Heartbeat faded. Breath weakened. Body broken. To watch as a head slips underwater, dead beneath waves. Hands that could have saved – inches from a life raft – frozen in reluctance.
You distance yourself from the stench of racism by calling it something else. “Politics”. A neat word to gloss over mangled truth. Eight bullets in a sleeping body. Eight minutes and forty six seconds of murdered breath. A child shot dead.
“Politics”
It’s an excuse to observe from the bleachers. Only this isn’t a football game, it’s an execution. A war between black people and societal oppression. You don’t need to pick a side for everyone to know which one you’re on.
Silence is acceptance
Rage
Rage is bloodied fear welded to a clenched scream that begs to escape from your lips. It’s beaten good intention flogged merciless by a society that refused to give a damn.
Feel it. Let it consume you. Allow it to overpower you, itched relentless pulsed in your fingers. Toxic poison pushed to the core of your bones. Fire swelled harmful, wrenched in your gut. Anger is change. Rage is necessary contradiction to evil.
Act. Let the rage escape your lips in meaning. Let it force your hands to act in change. Combat ignorance with knowledge. Radiate outrage into policy, petitions, protests, and campaigns. Refuse to be numbed by killings stuck on repeat. Feel each one as deeply as the first. Reject temptation to switch off emotion. Embrace the outrage. Shun the urge to disconnect. Feel the rage. Feel the exhaustion. Feel the hate. Just as deeply as you want to feel love. And don’t you dare, for one second, let it fade.
Rage is the light that ignites the action to rip racism apart. It needs to be felt, it needs to be here, and it needs to be valid. Do everything in your power to fight injustice. That is the only thing we can do now that – after an unforgivable amount of time – we have woken up to it. If you have remained silent until now. It’s not too late. Speak up, show up, and fight for what is right. Don’t just sit on the bleachers and wonder who will be next. This is your war too.
Black Lives Matter
It is an honor to know you, let alone be your mom.
Well done, Michaela! I’m glad that so many young people, like yourself are getting involved and speaking out. Keep on “hiking for justice”. Bravo!
Well done, Michaela! I’m glad that so many young people, like yourself are getting involved and speaking out. Keep on “hiking for justice”. Bravo!