The Current Political Crisis, Safety Pins and the Deeper Work
by Liam Kofi Bright
After the Brexit vote in Britain there was a spike in hate crimes against immigrants or people perceived to be from an immigrant background. A similar phenomenon appears to have occurred in the US post-election. Many members of stigmatized populations feel unsafe in their homes as news of the hate crimes spread. What is worse, many of us foresee only an increased influence and boldness from far-right and extremist hate groups in British and American society.
In response to the rising tide of hate, many people sympathetic to the situation of stigmatized groups adopted the safety pin as a symbol of their opposition to these malevolent social trends. The idea is that one wears the safety pin in some prominent place, and in that way not only symbolically resists the slide into hate, but also makes it plain to members from marginalized communities that there are still people out there who care and who are willing to support them. In so far as part of the problem in the wake of hate attacks is not just the direct physical and emotional harm to the immediate victims of these attacks, but also the general insecurity and social unwelcomeness this fosters, wearing the safety pin thus directly works to counter this latter problem.
However, not all were happy with the safety pin and what it represents. A number of critiques were penned that alleged that, in short, wearing a safety pin was too little too late. It’s a form of self-aggrandizing virtue signaling, critics alleged, that does little to actually materially improve the situation of those subject to hate, abuse, and discriminatory policy, while giving those who wear the pins a kind of inner sense that they are Good Allies Doing What They Can. Far from being a serious attempt to help those now in most need, then, wearing the safety pin is thus denounced as an expression of privilege, a smug way of affirming one’s place among the righteous without taking on any risk or burden.
What to say about this debate? Surely there is some value to safety pins, or symbolic actions more generally, especially as it directly speaks to at least some of the evils of social insecurity violated populations now face. But, at the same time, surely critics are right to suggest that those who engage in this symbolic action are apt to overestimate its importance, and may well (in at least some cases to at least some extent) be acting from somewhat selfish and smug motives. There being some truth to both sides, what can we say — or, better, how can we go forward as a community dedicated to achieving a more just and loving world?
We believe the key is to recognize the truth in what the critics of the safety pins were saying, but treating this truth as a call to, and opportunity for, engagement and education, rather than denouncement and mutual recrimination. If nothing else wearing the safety pin, and engaging in symbolic resistance to the rise of hate more generally, signals an awareness of the political tendencies of the moment, and an identification with those forces which stand opposed to hateful extremism. This is a seed from which more substantive resistance could grow, one that should be nurtured and developed to its full potential.
Not just any education can nurture that seed. It is vitally important that this education be led by those with most to teach on this topic. Those with the relevant life experience of living with and under hateful and oppressive systems, those who have had to learn strategies of resistance just to survive, and who can best identify their own needs in the present moment. That is to say, the education that we need to disseminate is an education in empathy and solidarity with members of stigmatized groups. It is from them we must learn, and to them we must now turn. Not only do such people have most to teach, but we must also turn to them because doing so — placing those directly affected at the forefront of our education — is itself a way of ceding social dominance, of creating leadership by and for the oppressed.
To that end and in addition to some promising deeper work like the Safety Pin Tool Box, those of us at the Truth Telling Project are planning to launch an educational resource late January 2017. The website is an online learning platform for high school age, adult learners, educators and dialogue facilitators- entitled the Truth Telling Commons, which provides a space for members of stigmatized groups to share their experience, and identify their own needs, in their own words and on their own terms. Those who visit the website will find testimonials provided by people from many different backgrounds and walks of life and hear the stories of those whose lives have been impacted by state violence, as well as pedagogical materials for educators at all levels. With these tools we can all become educators working to develop and share the knowledge and perspective of those we seek to support. This educational tool provides one way to build on the good will the safety pin phenomenon has established so as to move all our communities towards more substantive forms of political resistance. We need to bring all people of good will into this work, carefully and strategically, under the leadership of targeted communities, if we are to effectively face this dark and uncertain future.
Liam Kofi Bright is a part of the Truth Telling Project of Ferguson and a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon.
For more information on the Forthcoming Truth Telling Commons email thetruthtellingproject@gmail.com
