Come Out and Keep Talking

Jump to Comments

Back on this post, “The Purpose of Reaching Out,” I described a strategy for change that can be summed up by, “keep ‘em talking.”  This strategy, when it was combined with something else, worked well for Harvey Milk, as he defeated proposition 6.  Here, in this post, I describe the something else, the historical challenges for creating change, and a new strategy.

The something else: One key element of Harvey Milk’s strategy, and something that he is well known for, is calling for people to ”come out.”  Leave the closet.  Let people know that you’re gay or lesbian, if you are.  In this way, your plight (in how the proposition would affect you), becomes known to your fellow citizens.  And then they are more likely to support you, a fellow human being, than some hateful proposition.

The new strategy (part one of two): Come out.  Blacks, Jews, gays, Catholics, women, liberals, yankees, everyone who is targeted by the violent intolerants, such as the evil man who shot and killed at the Holocaust Museum, come out.  Let people know about the insults, the hate mail, the bomb threats, the despicable things that you typically ignore or refrain from publishing because you don’t want to be seen as causing trouble.

Do what the awesome Kathy Sierra did when she was faced with something hateful and threatening.  She said, “Death threats against bloggers are NOT ‘protected speech.’”  Publish the evil photos, statements, audio messages, videos, etc.  Let your friends, neighbors, coworkers, everyone know the vile garbage that you are faced with.

Be cautious, sure.  Not every little thing is worth mentioning and calling people racists can often be counterproductive.  The terrific Anthony Palmer described the situation thusly:

Why are some people so reluctant to acknowledge that the issue of race is a bigger and more persistent problem than they may think? (It’s amazing that people are still saying things like “Hang that darky from a tree!” in 2008.) And by the same token, why are some people so eager to tar others as racists at the slightest perceived injustice?

So, I’m advising that you report the facts and that you tell people how you feel. Don’t call people racists.  Report the actions, and let others reach their conclusions.  

The problems (the historical challenges for creating change):  MLK called for direct action as well as legislation and litigation.  He told supporters to fill up the jails.  It worked.  But now, they’ve built more and more jails.  We lock up far too many people in our free country, so many that one could argue that the 13th amendment allows (instead of abolishes) slavery.  The direct action strategy will not work.

Harvey Milk kept the extremists talking.  He challenged them on their home turf, and he trusted the media to report fairly, accurately, and thoroughly.  But now, the newspapers are folding, and Fox News and the right-wing talk radio talk all the time, spinning issues unfairly and inaccurately. 

Even when good newspapers report on people and issues, they focus exclusively on the horse race and function almost purely as PR outlets.  There is no independent reporting that provides people with fair, accurate and thorough information.  The keep ‘em talking strategy will not work.

And we still have to deal with the time-old tactics of our opponents: They lie.  They change the subject.  They seek to confuse the issue.  Here’s the brilliant Leonard Pitts describing the efforts of Newt Gingrich and others to derail Sonia Sotomayor:

Read the mewling of white victimization that rises any time blacks or browns are perceived as having won some victory over discrimination. There is to it a breathtaking cynicism and a willingness to manipulate for political gain one of the rawest places in the psyche of a nation. The goal is not to persuade. It is to muddy the water, confuse the debate. Because when you can’t win the argument, confusing it works almost as well.

The new strategy (part two of two):  We keep talking, anywhere and everywhere we can, and we use the broken record strategy to repeat, repeat, repeat exactly what we want.  We want to fly our state flag out in front of our State House.

Let’s take a second to regain our sense of humor.  Bill Cosby has a great story/joke about one morning when he made breakfast for his kids.  His wife asked him to do it, and he responded by asking her questions, such as “What should I make for them?” “Where are the pots and pans?” “Do we have any eggs?” ”Should I have them drink orange juice or milk?”.  So, he’s stalling, pretending to engage in the issue, but actually trying to avoid doing what his wife asked.

In much the same way, when we ask our fellow South Carolinians to take down the Confederate flag, some of the stallers and confusers respond, “Are you calling me a racist and insulting my great grandfather?”  Um.  No.  I’m saying that the Confederate flag is not the state flag of South Carolina.  Out in front of our State House, we should fly our state flag, not some other flag, regardless of how precious that other flag is to you.  Capice?

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized