It’s the benefit of some, perhaps many to keep us hidden, to keep our voices soft & gentle, our stand unsure, our love passive. But, now is not the time. Now is the time to make our love active- and that may look like givin’ ’em hell.

Many of us have seen or read the experiences of hate and racism across our country since DT was elected. I have struggled a bit on my social media with what to post and what not to post. The video below is one I hesitated showing because I heard these voices (not mine and no, I’m not crazy) telling me to only show the love, don’t encourage the hate.

Well here’s what I want to say to those voices and anyone who thinks this argument is valid. While many of us were living our safe, comfortable lives people like this were simmering quietly in their fear and anger. Now, thanks to DT saying what others are thinking, they are boiling over with rage. Instead of educating and opening themselves these past 8 years, they simmered. They stuck with who and what they knew- more, angry white people. You think I’m making assumptions- then you tell me how this kind of hate even exists right now.

While some of us only want the love and to see what’s positive and are taking the let’s just wait and see approach- the people who have had random acts of hate this week don’t have the luxury to wait and see. For the rest of us who are not having hate thrown at us, in my opinion, we don’t have that luxury either. These kinds of people need mirrors and we are those mirrors. That’s why I post this. They need to see their ugliness.

Will it change them? Maybe. Maybe not. But I know sitting in our comfortable lives hoping for love and only noticing what we want to notice won’t change a thing. You need to expose. You need to name. And then maybe it can be tamed. And, no I didn’t make that up. At my social work intersnhip where I work with elementary students we use a strategy to help with feelings called, “Name it to Tame it.” We have to see, and so do they.