This Week's Opening Thought: November 21, 2022

This week’s opening thought: We’re coming off a weekend where the Trans Day of Remembrance was marred with the dark clouds of another violent hate crime. We’re also going into a week with a supremely problematic national holiday representing the erasure of Native folx and factual history in the United States during the month slated as Native American Heritage Month.

To say that this is a week of trauma on many levels for many communities is an understatement.

These are moments in time when I find myself struggling for words. I think about action and inaction and the impacts of both, regardless of intent. But mostly, I think about safety: whom our society believes is deserving of it, the absence of it for so many communities. At this time, the only thing that comes to mind is this:

Everyone deserves safety.

Physical safety. Emotional safety. It should be for everyone. It’s ridiculous that, overtly and covertly, it’s not.

Safety should not be a privilege only available to white cishet Christians on unceded land. No one should have to live with the understanding that you’ll pass on the generational trauma of knowing that you and those who come after you will likely never be or feel safe as you navigate the world. Hate should never be a core part of living freely and openly as yourself. We all should be able to live happily in our identities, our cultures, and our communities without the fear of murder. And if you disagree with any part of this?

You are a contributor to a clear and present danger.

My heart and soul go out to LGBTQIA+ communities, to trans communities, after the traumatic hate crime that occurred in Colorado Springs this past weekend. My heart and soul go out to the families and communities impacted by the terrorist attack at Club Q. And my heart and soul go out to Native and Indigenous communities in the United States as we approach a harmful and invalidating national holiday. May there be some peace and love for you amid so much trauma.