Becoming politically active is not unlike choosing to walk across a mine field. It takes years to figure out how to avoid making regular missteps. And yet, taking action that sparks controversy and upset is bound to happen. No doubt about it, it’s painful to find out that regardless of your best intentions, people you care about think you made an error.
Navigating
challenging feedback is tough, especially when there has been a serious attempt
to outreach to a diverse set of people before taking action. What do you do when two of your closest advisers
give you different advice? When it comes to issues of race, as a white person,
I have frequently felt challenged when two politically-minded friends of color
have expressed totally opposite viewpoints and suggestions.
One of my closest friends recently faced this challenge. He’s a white rapper invested in social
justice. He just released a song called Listen, and it highlights the receipt
of military-grade weapons by a local school district. It’s a good song, and it’s an
amazing first step into political activism.
And, it’s not
a perfect effort (from an activist's standpoint). There’s a particular phrase that sets things up a bit too much as him
being a “protector” for students of color. Since my friend is a white guy, this easily
calls to mind the “white savior” idea. We’ve talked about this, and he’s
been receptive to feedback.
This one point of
feedback, however, should not detract him from forward movement. A large number of people
of color in his life are saying: “Yes, you have to do this. Yes, this is a
great song. Yes, this is useful. Yes, we are behind you.” A diverse, creative,
well-connected set of people have also come together to help produce a video for the
song that should help it reach a wider audience and support action steps
But, even with these
folks working for free…there is money to be raised to help make the video shoot
happen. This is where seasoned activists and caring individuals come in. If you
want to help support a budding activist in walking this path, please take
a few minutes and contribute even a little to his Kickstarter campaign.
If we can get a
bunch of people to contribute even $5 or $10 each, we can demonstrate that
taking a risk to put yourself on the line, in the path of critique, is
worthwhile. This is a great way to help me send the message to my friend he should continue
down this challenging road of learning how to walk the activists’ path.
Please donate
whatever you can and share with others who recognize the need to support an
emerging activist and all those rallying behind him.
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