Small things

[kate_schaefer]

Since the election last fall, there have been some small things I've been doing and intend to continue to do. I expect that most of the people who read my journal do most of those things, too, as well as a number of other things, but I don't mind preaching to the choir.

Glenn and I increased our donations to organizations that we expect to address some of the situations that are bound to get worse under a Trump administration: Planned Parenthood, Doctors Without Borders, the ACLU, our local food bank. We held our donations to other organizations that we support steady; humans continue to need art and various kinds of education even –- especially -- during a political emergency.

I call my representatives from time to time. I do not call them every day, though there are issues that bother me every day, because I don't want to become one of the people that the staff discounts every time they call.

I retweet things that make me indignant. I don't think this has any political effect, but I feel solidarity with the original tweeter for a moment, which means I feel less alone. I try not to mistake this emotion for doing something useful.

The other small thing I do is awkward. I speak to people I don't know who seem to me to be immigrants and tell them that even in the current political climate, they are welcome and wanted in America. I do this even though I know it's a bit patronizing and even though I'm nervous about it.

The reactions have almost all been positive; the reactions that weren't positive were neutral bafflement about why I would be saying this. I've been hugged by women in hijabs. I've heard quick life stories from people from Nepal, China, Mexico, Lebanon, India, Turkey, stories mostly of immigration for education or jobs, but also for political asylum. I've talked to legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, citizens, people with green cards, people waiting for green cards.

I don't think this has any political effect. I know that most of what it does is make me feel good about being a decent human being. The rest of what it does is make some other people feel seen and accepted by the country in which they live, even if it's just for a moment.

Comments

[redbird]

It may not have any political effect, but it may, if you're making people feel less afraid: there are bastards out there who are deliberately trying to make them more afraid.

[kate_schaefer]

Thanks. Yes, I htink it's better to make people feel less afraid. The people by whom they are made afraid are still there -- still here -- but it has to be at least slightly better to know that there are some people who will stand with them.

The story that the woman from Nepal told me was so much worse than anything I expect to experience in the US, so much worse than anything she expects to experience in the US. I hope that we are both right.

[bibliofile]

This. Exactly.

[kate_schaefer]

Thanks.

[wild_irises]

I have long had a policy of 1) having what are likely to be cordial and pleasant interactions with people of color when the occasion arises; and 2) thanking people I see doing "menial" jobs like picking up trash or cleaning, whether public or private. Also people who are thanking me for being their customer, such as airplane personnel.

I've had an occasional bad moment with the first one, but very very few. For the second, I get a range from polite confusion to real pleasure.

I've been astonished by the degree of importance PoC in the Bay Area, especially outside of Oakland and Berkeley, seem to see in my Black Lives Matter t-shirt. I get thanked, I get grins, I get handshakes. The level of response actually makes me a little sad.

I think I will add talking to people who seem to be immigrants; I like it.

Political effects are very hard to pin down. Making someone (including yourself) feel a little better on a daily basis on a fraught subject can only do good. I always come back to this quotation from Le Guin:

"The dead are dead. The great and mighty go their way unchecked. The only hope in the world lies in the people of no account."

[kate_schaefer]

The responses to the Black Lives Matter t-shirt sound similar to the responses we used to see to PFlag. Of course PFlag still matters, but not the way it used to matter 20 or 30 years ago. Very inexact analogy, but the one that came to mind.

Yes, I have customarily tried to do your 1) and 2); I definitely try to do them more now.

*hugs*

[librarygrrl]

There may be no direct political effect in some of those things, but feeling and encouraging solidarity and being welcoming to immigrants are both very important things to my way of thinking! Thank you for being awesome. I'm happy to have such good people in my life! :)

I try to do my part to make the library a welcoming place for all people, but I do take a bit more pleasure than usual if I can be especially welcoming to immigrants and people of color, given our current political climate.

Re: *hugs*

[kate_schaefer]

Thanks and hugs back at you. I'm happy to have you in my life as well.