#Thread on community care. A major theme of the trolls emailing & tweeting at me right now is that I am begging for money/resources because I (we as a movement?) are lazy, don’t want to work, don’t have real jobs, etc. So let’s clear some things up: I work as do many protesters.

We then pour our collective resources into this unpaid work. Many, however, are already under-paid or unemployed & thus have time to devote but not money. My goal is to connect those with money but not time or capacity for on the ground work with those who have the opposite.

But here’s the real thing: Conservatives shaming ppl for asking for help is a fundamental ethical disagreement. In the radical, anti-racist, feminist, queer & disability justice communities I operate in, we WANT people to feel comfortable asking for & accepting help.

Conservatives want to promote notions of independence that are inherently harmful bc they deny the ways in which all of us depend on others to live & thrive. For white people, this dependence has often been on the invisible underpaid/forced labor of people of color.

To acknowledge their dependence on our labor & knowledge would require acknowledging our value to them & their world. So instead they pretend they function without us & try to shame us for seeking more resources for ourselves—even as their resources depend on us.

When I ask for donations, I am asking people & companies to help me make a larger difference than I could on my own. There is no shame in that. Similarly, there is no shame is asking for & accepting direct personal help even when your situation is not dire.

We shouldn’t have to wait until a situation is dire to ask for & receive help. We should all be continually giving & receiving from our communities as our capacities & life circumstances allow—with an emphasis on ensuring those most marginalized & oppressed get the most help.

Conservative hatred of welfare & other forms of government aid for people is a reflection of their deluded investment in individual independence that is fully a racist classist sexist ableist lie. See: bootstraps, American Dream, etc.

So people can call me all the names they want, but I refuse to be ashamed of asking for resources to support the care & wellbeing of people who are being harmed. And I think all of us would benefit from a re-evaluation of our cultural distain for asking for & receiving help.