Do We Have To Be Angry to Be Activists?
While there’s nothing wrong with channeling anger through activism, it is also possible to not be led by our pain.
What would your activism look like if anger were not the one driving it? — I asked. I had asked her many questions about her anger, but this one struck a chord.
Barbara was silent. And quite curious. She knew she was suppressing a lot of anger.
“I don’t know,” she finally said.
“Let’s find out! Shall we?” I answered.
The world of activism is often driven by trauma: an event in the past, so difficult to bear that the only answer at times is to try prevent such terrible things from happening again. However, when this drive is rooted in anger, it is unhealthy and unsustainable. After years of being a fierce activist, Barbara had burned herself out. Her body was shutting down. She had resigned from her full-time position and was suddenly spending a lot of time at the doctor’s. She had a sugar-sweet voice, but this couldn’t cover up the anger stored in her body, so tightly that the pressure and stress were becoming too much.
I was spending a week in March in El Paso, Texas, trying to understand more about family separation at the US border with Mexico, for my…
