Can I fast-forward to the point where I’m fully surrounded by people who find my heightened interested in activism and justice to be an asset instead of a hindrance? Does that point even exist?
I long for the day that I’m immersed in a circle that finds my heightened interest in activism & justice to be an asset & not a hindrance
— WhiteGayze™ Slayer (@angryblackhoemo) October 27, 2016
I’ve touched on this before, but as someone who might jokingly be called “newly woke,” I’m finding myself in a place where I’m owning how much I value social justice and activism in a way that I hadn’t, previously. Truth of the matter is, I’ve felt strongly about social justice and liberation for myself as Black, Queer person, even before I knew what the term “social justice” was. But just after the last year or so, I’m finding myself more fully invested in advocating for justice in more substantial and far-reaching ways.
I didn’t grow up immersed in the intersection of Blackness and Queerness…nor did I grow up in social awareness and activism. They’re all things that I had to go out and find and/or stumble upon on my own. And moving to Chicago played a big factor in that, as did finding my way back to spaces in social media like Twitter. I feel like I’ve grown a great deal in a very short time (I would NOT have been cool with calling myself “Angry” just a year ago…even in jest). It’s given me a much greater sense of clarity in how I view the world, but it’s also come at a price. [Read more…]