Don’t Talk to Me Today

       As of late, my favorite phrase to say whether it be in a serious manner or in a playful way is, “Let me tell you something…” it is usually proceeded by a funny joke or anything that i feel needs to be said. The phrase comes as a natural line when having a conversation with someone to inform them of what you want to say. There is a video somewhere on Beyoncé’s Internet, of a young man wearing a fake mustache, running into the camera and pointing saying, “Let me tell you something.”
        Well I come not running towards a camera but writing this, saying this to whomever may be reading, “Let me tell you something…” followed by the title of this post, “don’t talk to me today.” Don’t talk to me unless you have something useful to say. Unless you have something meaningful to say. Unless you have something to contribute to today’s conversation. That conversation, is the conversation about how it feels to be alive in this political climate. What today's political climate perpetuates and how you may contribute to the perpetuation.
        Usually I try not to concern myself with politics. Actually, that’s wrong… I try to avoid politics when brought up in conversation. (Politics are inevitable for people with my identity because I am not privileged enough to ignore all politics, I wasn't born with rich privilege or white privilege)That is the honest to goodness truth. I cannot stand politics. (I already generally have a problem with authority and people telling me what to do but I have a burning disdain for people in public office and how they have a complete disregard of the lives their position directly affects.) Today the discussion is one I can’t avoid. Today it keeps me awake and not in a stay woke kind of way. In the way where it’s literally 2:25AM and I can’t sleep because I keep thinking about it feels to be a black person in this country. How it feels to be indigenous in this country. How it feels to be LGBT in this country. How it feels to be an immigrant in this country. To have your entire existence mocked and threatened every single day.
          I have to admit that I've grown weary, yet I can’t sleep. It is upsetting and it is truly mortifying. However, it is not surprising. It’s been like this for centuries. The hate has never gone away. It is a seed that has been planted in generation after generation. It is the seed of racism. Or xenophobia. Of homophobia. The seed of hatred. To hate anything unlike them. To hate anything that isn’t what is supposed to be normal. To hate anything that isn’t like them.
       Don’t talk to me if you are homophobic. Don’t talk to me if you are someone who mockingly tell an immigrant or anyone whose native language isn’t English to “Speak English.” Don’t talk to me if you purposely misgender someone. If your purposely use the wrong pronouns when speaking to someone who told you their preferred pronouns. If you make jokes about someone’s sexual orientation. I am tired! I don’t have any use for those words. For words that don’t help solve this problem. These. Problems. You are a part of the problem. You are a problem. Your mindset is a problem and you need to open a book and read before you speak to me— or anyone else for that matter.
          There is a problem in America and it has always existed. When you don’t speak with meaning and you speak before you think. Or when you speak and offend someone and you have to backpedal and say, “oh my bad.” Or, “damn I was only kidding.” You don’t take responsibility for the role you are playing in all of this. You are a threat to humanity. You are contributing to the cycle of hatred.
         You can think that I’m speaking generally. I’m not. I’m writing because Jussie Smollett was attacked in Chicago by people who shouted gay slurs at him, who called him a “nigger.” People who beat him to the point where he had to be hospitalized. People who poured bleach on him. People who wrapped a noose around his neck. A NOOSE! People who also wore Make America Great Again hats. People whose ancestors, or even fathers or grandfathers wore white pointed hoods. Racist and homophobic people.
            I guess now I don’t have to tell you why it’s inappropriate and totally unfunny to make a “joke” about how you would kill your son if they were gay. People aren’t being sensitive. You are being negligent with their humanity. Your words are a beacon of violence. You may not physically assault them but you share the thoughts of those who will carry out the action you joke about.
      There’s no difference between what they did and what cops do to black kids all the time. If you have a problem with that you should have a problem with this. You should have a problem with all of this. Whether or not you “agree with their personal choices,” like so many homophobic or un-evolved people say. As if. As if they have to exist solely off of your agreement or disagreement with their lives. As if it’s a choice.
          It’s January 30th and in this month young black women who are survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of a music artist(s) have been mocked and shamed in ways that should be illegal. Nathan Phillips was mocked by young white kids wearing those MAGA hats. A Duke University professor told Chinese students to speak English. The goddamn government was shut down for over a month because that bigot of a president wants to build a wall that has no purpose. Federal employees were not paid for 30+ days.
         If you were someone who made fun of R Kelly’s survivors. Or if you harass the Hispanic woman on the bus, telling her to speak English or any other people who don’t speak the only language you can probably speak. If you actively make fun of the LGBT community. If you dehumanize anybody for kicks or to make you feel better about yourself, I suggest you 1. Say it with your whole chest and not back down when you are challenged or when somebody finally steps to you to check you or kick your ass for your wack ass views. And so people who better than you can hear you and steer clear of you. Be trash out loud. 2. Open a book or use the Internet on your damn phone and read about how these views are so damaging to not only someone’s psyche but to entire communities. Develop understanding and empathy for the person you are degrading. 3. Don’t talk to me today or any day of your life if you have trash views and wish to keep them.
           It’s 2019 and there will be some sort of change. I’m not engaging in anything that is harmful to any marginalized groups. This is a step in the right direction that you should be willing to take. Don’t like a post that’s homophobic. Don't share homophobic tweets or memes or anything of that nature. Don't stream music artists who are homophobic and who are sexual abusers. (Warning: you will be listening to a lot less hip hop) Don’t wear those ridiculous red hats that are supposed to be jokes or rebuttals to the Make America Great again hats. They are red hats and they symbolize hatred and bigotry… wearing a similar hat is regressive. Even if it says, “Fuck Trump” or what are the dumb things they say? There are so many “Make America [blank] again hats, it’s ridiculous. It accomplishes nothing. Don't wear those hats. Don’t victim blame. I should not have to inform you that participating in these behaviors spread hate because at your big age, you should know that. It encourages hate.
         Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
 Some of us have brighter lights and can navigate through the darkness of this world to “drive” it out. Some of us are more compassionate and understanding. But I also believe that it’s basic human decency. Don’t spread the darkness of your ignorance. Enlighten yourself. No matter how dim your light may be, it’s better than complete darkness. Educate yourself little by little until you are advocating for someone else's humanity. Deliberately. Until you realize their lives are just as important as your– cisgender heterosexual American born– lives.
        It’s been an hour of me writing this and I’m not sure if I’ve gotten my point across eloquently but it’s now 3:25AM. I have to be awake at 7AM. I’m going to be dead tired so definitely… do not talk to me today.