A welcome mat for other petty, strange, menacing behavior

My friends spent inauguration day sharing words of hope with one another. It was nice experience on a sour day. Compassion. Vigilance. Grace. Decency. Resistance. Perseverance. Courage. Solidarity. Integrity. Wisdom. Moxie.

I have faith in all of these things. But, as James described Abraham in the New Testament, his “faith was completed by his works.”

Faith is not enough. It requires something of us. We are expected to take action — scary, embarrassing, messy, often unsuccessful action. In whatever form, James tells us to clothe and feed our brothers and sisters, not just to tell them “Go in peace, be warm and filled.” We’re called to give up our comfort, silence, and respectability rather than just wish for good to win out, whether you believe in the god of Abraham or you believe in human decency or you believe in both.

In his first days, the president and his staff have disappeared the LGBTQ community from the president’s website, whined and lied about coverage of the size of the inauguration crowd, and brought on another staffer from Brietbart, which serves as a platform of white nationalists and misogynists.

This is not disarray — or at least not only disarray. Sean Spicer’s performances at the podium were panicked, for example. But that’s because he was scared of his boss’ ire, not because he was uncomfortable with or unsure of what he said.

This behavior is not going to stop. It is meant to send a signal to marginalized groups that straight, white men are back in charge. They are small things, petty and strange. But they serve their purpose. Those marginalized people are clearly told their place — threatened, at the edges, and with less support and recourse than they had just 72 hours ago. For those of us who are already safely part of the power structure, depending upon your politics, it’s either: A welcome mat for other petty, strange, and menacing behavior around the country. Or an attempt to distract us and frustrate us back into complacency.

Many of us will be able to comfortably ignore most of the threats we face. We’ll be encouraged to, in fact. Many of our neighbors — queer folks, people of color, poor people, religious minorities, immigrants — will not have that same luxury. So we’re going to have to give ours away, stay close to our neighbor, and face threats with them. Let’s get to it.