Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Mary Hutto Fruchter's avatar

Thank you! I made the mistake of listening to some depressing news last night, and I started spiraling a little. This writing helps!

Expand full comment
Alec Patton's avatar

Your description of the safety bin logic chain made me laugh out loud, but I think it was missing something, which was the sense that we didn't know what kind of precipice the country was on—one of the big things that precipitated the safety pins (which were 100% silly) was the reports that hate crimes were increasing rapidly. So it wasn't just myopia about how people of color viewed white people (though it certainly WAS that), it was also from a fear (borne out by news reports) that things were getting worse, and were likely to keep getting worse.

I say this because I think we've kind of memory-holed the national popular mobilization against Trump, and while some of it was regrettable (like the safety pins) some of it was really effective (like the spontaneous protests against the Muslim bans at airports). I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know already, as the coiner of the phrase "never apologize for the times you cared a little bit more") but I think there's a bit of nuance here to add. Again, not as a safety pin apologist!

Expand full comment
16 more comments...

No posts