I’m seeing a lot of white people demand that black people be more polite - “nicer” - about their fight for equality.

Reminder: it was 29 yrs ago that Rodney King was beat in the street by LA cops who didn’t see a day in jail. 29 years. And nothing has changed.

I can’t begin to understand what it’s like to be black in North America. As a mother of sons, I can’t imagine what black mothers go through in trying to keep their sons safe. I can’t imagine the fear, heartbreak, frustration, rage... I won’t suggest I will ever be able to. 1/

What I do know from my 30 years of LGBTQ2 activism is that equality & rights are never given to those who ask nicely. We had to raise hell, march in the streets, break some windows, burn some shit before the discussions could even begin. 2/

We had to spread the ashes of our loved ones on the White House lawn before Ronald Reagan would even acknowledge the AIDS epidemic. Because when the majority won’t listen, the minority must make sure they are heard. We had to “Act Up”. 3/

We praise the “freedom riders” of 1961 who literally risked their lives to force change. We laud the civil disobedience of that era, but we ignore that even this didn’t bring about true legal and societal equality.

It’s. Not. Okay. 4/

What’s happening in Minneapolis, in Kentucky, in several locations across the USA is a new generation of “freedom riders” have had enough. They’ve tried nice.

But you wouldn’t even accept them kneeling in peaceful protest, would you? Even that wasn’t “nice” enough. 5/

You can’t keep an entire people in a powder keg, imprison & kill their children, then have the President set off sparks for four damn years and expect everyone to just ask nicely that we stop killing their babies.

Something is gonna blow. 6/

So... white people. This would be a good time to shut down/stifle anything you have to say that is critical or derogatory about how this fight is playing out.

Because we were the ones in charge. We were the ones who could’ve changed this. We are the ones who need to change. 7/

We. Wouldn’t. Even. Let. Them. Kneel.

And that’s why this is happening, and why it needs to happen.

/end

“Sometimes a rock through a window can change the world.” - Marsha P Johnson, probably.