coming from a Mennonite background, what actually living nonviolence means is something I should maybe talk about more. Because this tweet and more for real. https://twitter.com/rayblackrainbow/status/1266812809280618497

My great-grandfather's family lived through Ukraine in the 1910s-20s. They were offered guns, having lived through soldiers ravaging their house and nearly killing them. They refused. You don't have to do what they did. But if you claim to live by nonviolence, you must weigh it.

You cannot claim nonviolence and then hide behind men with guns. You cannot claim nonviolence and then vow murder upon people who harm you. That is not how pacifism works. You don't have to be a pacifist, but when ppl invoke it I mostly just hear static.

Claiming nonviolence is no bravery if you call the cops when you're scared. When I was a kid, kids beat me up because I was a fag, and I did not fight back. It was not my nature. It's a small thing, I was too young to have ideology about it...for real.

But I knew in my bones that was not me. I respect anybody whose bones flash with the willingness to fight, I don't believe everyone must be pacifists. But most people who claim nonviolence, I do not believe at all. Idk if this is appropriate to talk about rn, I hope it's helpful.

Defund the police. Give money to Black-led organizations. Stay safe friends, I worry about you.