When Joy is a Form of Activism
I’ve always known Joy was a fitting middle name on all accounts; I tend to be an optimist, and it’s served me well over my lifetime. Even when I was an angsty pre-teen listening to Nirvana and Green Day, wanting so bad to be dark and moody, I just wasn’t. Life has thrown me my fair share of curveballs. Most people assume I have had an easy-going, light, and fortunate life. I’m OK with them believing that, it’s just not the whole truth. I’m just reminding you that just because I choose to be optimistic doesn’t mean I’m blind to all the depressing, unjust, and evil things that happen in this world.
On January 6th domestic terrorists raided, looted, and committed acts of treason in our nation’s Capitol. Well, Tomi, I’m not gripping my pearls. I’m not shocked. This is nothing new; nooses don’t surprise me. Confederate flags don’t scare me. The officers that removed barricades so these traders could enter the Capitol do not shock me; these acts are as American as America. And if any of it is genuinely shocking, you have been choosing to ignore history, and you have not been listening to the orange man that I will not call a president inciting this type of violence for the past four years. These people believe so deeply that America is theirs; they would rather burn down and try to hijack our institutions than accept the FACT this was a fair election.
If I were to allow people like this to steal my joy, I would be in a constant state of anger as a black woman. So sometimes, joy is the ultimate form of activism. That’s why I choose to celebrate. I’ll celebrate we just flipped the Senate because we just voted in the first black senator, Raphael Warnock, from Georgia. We voted for the youngest senator, a Jewish man named Jon Ossoff, to be a part of a government to work with a catholic President, the first female, black, Indian vice President. Celebrate Stacey Abrahms and a hell of a lot of grassroots organizations like Black Voters Matter that registered so many black and brown people they turn Georgia blue. That’s what I’m shocked about. America’s leaders are starting to reflect the diversity of America. That’s the only thing that’s genuinely been shocking news over the past few months. And that is worth celebrating.
Trust me, I will continue to fight for the America I want for my children. But today, yesterday, and tomorrow I will celebrate.