Embracing Change: Celebrating Wins in Justice and Acceptance

I think it’s really important for us to remember that while we’re pursuing justice and rolling out every social justice intervention, that things are changing. Things have already changed. The work is working and we’re getting the results that we want. I bring this up because yesterday I was at the library for like three hours. We went just to pick up one book that my daughter had put on hold and per usual we stayed for three hours. There was a class going on, she went into the class and I sat outside at this table. And so I had at one point needed to interact with one of the librarians who was white and non-binary. I knew they were non-binary because they had a t-shirt that said, my pronouns are they. No sweat. But throughout the course of that three hour stint, I’m sitting at the table and this cis hetero presenting black man comes, right? He comes with his little son. He’s probably like four and he’s really excited about his son learning to read and he’s like, son, I need you to use your inside voice, son. And I just thought that was beautiful. But they needed help finding beginner reading material and so they interacted with that same librarian. And in talking with his son, the man incorrectly accidentally misgenders the librarian. And the librarian says, oh, hey, my name is such and such. My pronouns are they. And the brother was just like, hmm. And then they continued on with the interaction, right? With the transaction. And I thought that was really good in two different ways. One, it takes a lot of courage, right? And vulnerability to be uncomfortable with correcting people because the remnants of colonization has culturally embedded in us, right? The practice of just being quiet when people harm us, being quiet when it’s done accidentally. And so for them to like say to this black man, right? Because we also know that men are violent. Yeah, that’s not it. It requires bravery and it requires a value for self. And I thought that was beautiful. I also thought it was really beautiful that the brother was just like, hmm, and then carried on. Didn’t try to disrupt what the librarian was saying. Didn’t try to confront them. Didn’t try to change it or et cetera. It just they he just went along with it and was like, hmm, and carried on. And so I just thought. I live in a pretty diverse neighborhood and from hotel to the gays, black, white, Asian, et cetera. And I just thought, here we are. We’re pushing the boundaries of what’s comfortable for us and it’s being accepted, not tolerated, accepted. I just think that that is indicative of culturally where we are. So there are blind spots and there’s like blatant violence, right? In systems that use violence to control people that need to be changed. And we’re doing all that work, but there’s also light. There’s also change happening. There’s also change that has happened. And so I just wanted to remind us like, yeah, let’s celebrate those wins. That was a win.