Responding to the deluge

there is a war going on in america

its victims are women americans and african americans and latino americans and native americans and muslim americans and queer americans and immigrant americans

its perpetrators are white man americans

when they dont hurt us directly they tell us to move on from the hurt we feel they make us feel bad for caring for wishing we could help

but in a war we can fight back at first we can fight back with kindness at first we can limit how far we go out of our way

but in a war there comes a time, a place when the totality of our attention ought to be trained on a single goal the goal of preserving the people we love the goal of preserving the people we have never met but we wish we did

with every injustice every white supremacy inspired mass shooting every attack on womens rights every insult of african american heritage every threat to latino american communities every landgrab from native americans every insult thrown at muslims every indication that immigrants are not welcome

and

every expression of the fact that white men neither feel nor fear nor appreciate the devastation these cause

i inch closer and closer to embracing the fight back.