Solidarity requires action. Point blank.
You're safety pin is cute, but if you don't back that up with action, it is worthless.
Action can take the form of protests, writing government officials, combating racism/everyday forms of bigotry in your own life, but ultimately, to every person who wears a safety pin, know that you need to line these efforts up with real action, otherwise you are not in solidarity with anyone.
Solidarity is not a fashion statement, or a commodity to profit from, but a living, breathing action that must be used every moment of the day, in every instance.
It is both offensive and inappropriate when privileged people use something like a safety pin as a mere symbol of something they can never follow through on. We should all aspire for more.
To those who would treat the pin as a fad, or a gimmick, but the next moment, when challenged, turn your back on those you claim to stand with, I see you.
WE see you.
LIVES are on the line. What is your safety pin worth when a trans women is found murdered in the night, and no justice follows? When your undocumented friend finds out his parents have been deported, and he'll most likely never see them again? When a black girl watches her father gunned down in front of her eyes by police who mistook innocent gestures for malicious action?
It is worth nothing.
Don't just wear your safety pin, genuinely listen to the PoC, Muslims, women, and your LGBTQ friends around you. Engage with them on a human to human basis. When they say something you see as "extreme", don't immediately criticize them. Think about why they are saying what they say. Support and protect them. Don't react to every post they make about "white people" as if they are personally attacking you, (because, trust me, they aren't).
Educate yourself about privilege and racial politics. Read books by PoC, read their work. Protest, speak up, engage with the system's of racism and homophobia which you benefit from.
And for God's sake, when they ask for action, ACT.
That is true solidarity.
And if you can't put action behind the symbol, don't where the damn pin.
