Earlier this week, I found myself in a conversation with my ex-husband and, as longtime readers know, we have an amicable relationship. He’s still my emergency contact and over the years he has played a pivotal role in helping me develop Black Girl in Maine. We were discussing the constitutional crisis and the overall political climate when he told me that he has really started to worry about my safety given my work. If you only know me from my writing and are newer to my work, you may not know that my actual day job for the last 11 years has been serving as executive director of a New England based anti-racism organization.
As you can imagine, running such an organization in the current climate is stressful and that is putting it mildly. My ex-husband said that given the rhetoric coming from this administration, he worries that between my writing and online presence and my actual job, this administration might eventually come for me. I would love to say that his worries are overblown but the truth is that this same thought has been keeping me up late at night.
In the 20-plus years that I have been writing about race, I have received numerous death threats, vile hate mail, I have been stalked, I have been accosted by racists, and I have been confronted by white supremacists to such a degree that eventually private security had to be obtained for my public speaking engagements for a while. At one point, I had a literal bodyguard standing outside of the bathroom at my events due to chatter on white nationalist boards.
I share this to say that I have been through some shit to the point that most of it stopped bothering me a long time ago. In the early years, it was scary but over time I realized most of it was the inane ramblings of maladjusted racist keyboard warriors. Prior to the current political moment, my last truly unnerving exchange with a racist happened in the summer of 2019, when said racist aggressor was arrested on the island that I live on. That hit really close to home—literally.
Over the years though, while loved ones worried about people possibly harming me, I took solace in knowing that most likely I would be safe. After all, it wasn’t like the government was going to suddenly go racist and try to ban dissent/critique and come lock me or something?
Then Trump 2.0 happened and suddenly the unthinkable has become something that seems more and more likely as this administration works diligently to suppress dissent and people comply out of fear. In recent days, we have seen an escalation in tactics, including watching a sitting United States Senator be manhandled and handcuffed because he dared to ask a question of the Secretary of Homeland Security. Watching the video of Alex Padilla, respectfully exercising his right as a senator in a state that is being attacked by the administration, get assaulted by government goons and then watching the Secretary of Homeland Security just chilling—that really brought home the point that these are dangerously unprecedented times.
I mean, I knew that intellectually, especially given that I recently talked safety with my staff and the fact that our work now comes with real risks in this climate. Still, you can know intellectually but watching things play out brings it to life in a whole other way.
None of us are safe and if we do nothing, these people win, and it is a wrap on this country.
What is happening in California is absolutely coming to a location near you. Which means, to quote one of my favorite quotes by Emiliano Zapata: “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” Zapata was a revolutionary Mexican leader who refused to accept injustice and, frankly, as Americans who are appalled at what is going on, we need that energy.
With the No Kings Day protest coming up, many are eager to go out and make their voices heard. But, as Americans who don’t want to rock the boat, there is a lot of emphasis on avoiding harm. While this is laudable, in this current climate we are up against cruel people who delight in harm. If you have seen any of the images of ICE and other law enforcement agencies following orders from the administration, you see that cruelty is the point. Which means you must look at how best to stay safe and make your voice heard.
There is a lot of misguided and frankly outdated advice floating around on social media that will get people harmed. While social media can be a gift in times of crisis, it is also a source of misinformation and harmful information. In today’s world, many of the largest platforms that are sharing news and giving out advice are not necessarily the people who have ever put boots on the ground as it relates to activism. We are in a space where influencers, news, and activists have merged and the people who get the most traction (aka clicks and views) are often not the people most impacted or even the most skilled in what safe organizing looks like. Hell, they often are not the people who even put their own feet on the ground on the front lines. It is why we have seen several dubious characters pop up in recent months.
There is online chatter that the June 14 protests may be disrupted by the Proud Boys and other white nationalist groups who support the administration. There is a sense these folks will try to disrupt and create violence. Currently, a graphic is floating around social media by a group with a large social media following instructing protesters to sit down if they are at a protest and violence breaks out. It advises that attendees shouldn’t allow themselves to be provoked and that by sitting down, law enforcement and others will see their commitment to nonviolence.
Full stop. No.
Look, that sounds good and at an actual sit-in, this could be great advice. However, in the last week, we have seen law enforcement use weapons, including tear gas, on protestors and sitting down during a violent escalation increases the likelihood of physical harm occurring to those sitting down.
For starters, tear gas sinks. If you are on the ground, and tear gas is being used, there is a greater chance it will get to you and hit you harder. I also don’t believe that any of these people following orders wouldn’t trample you. They are desensitized beings, following orders. Do you really think they are going to respect your peaceful stance on the ground? No, they will trample you or run over you and the footage we are seeing backs that up. You would be better off standing silently, walking slowly or linking arms, creating a human chain that is peaceful.
People love to quote Dr. King but seem to forget that Rosa Parks was a trained organizer and her stance on that bus was strategically planned. It didn’t just pop off; it was planned. Safe protests are strategically planned. There are marshals, medics, legal observers, bail funds, and more ready if needed.
You stay safe by planning. This is when getting connected in community matters. It’s why knowing who the organizers are matters. A lot of newer groups have come online since the start of Trump 2 and frankly there are concerns about some of them. I will just say this: You never need to RSVP for a protest. It’s protest, not a fucking dinner party. Why do the organizers need your personal data? At time when we know the government is building dossiers on each and everyone of us, registering for protests is dangerous. Did we forget about Elon Musk and Peter Thiel’s Palantir? In fact, stop being so loosey goosey with your data in general.
Oh yeah, put your phone in airplane mode when you head out or better yet, if you can get your hands on a burner phone that has nothing on it, do that.
In writing this, I realize these words may seem alarming, but today’s world of protest isn’t the world of protest that I entered as a high school kid in the late 1980s. We weren’t living in a technologically advanced authoritarian-lite society that wants to track and control us. So, while we can look at movements of the past for inspiration, we need to bring our current modern-day lens into play and stop romanticizing struggle.
In the past few days, this country crossed a red line, and our collective survival requires all hands-on deck, knowing that we are collectively pushing through our fears, accepting that resistance isn’t without risk but understanding that there is a greater risk in clinging to the illusion of safety. Because if we do that, we will descend deeper into fascism and continue to lose our freedoms. including recognizing that while today it is immigrants being hunted and disappeared, tomorrow it can be any one of us who has not pledged complete fealty to the administration.
Stay safe, don’t sit, and make some noise.
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