Certain polls on social media insult my intelligence.
- Is interracial dating okay: yes or no?
- Are people born lesbian, gay, or bisexual?
- Should transgender people be allowed to use the restrooms/changing rooms associated with their identified gender?
I encounter these polls (or strong religious statements to the negative) often in African-American social media groups, and I sigh and roll my eyes every time. It is 2015, but so many of us keep our minds trapped in 1815. Why does it matter whom someone loves? Why are we checking the state of someone else’s genitals to determine what bathroom we want them to use, and how would we like it if someone was doing it to us? We’ve taken some of the ugliness of white supremacy (controlling who we partner with or whether we partner at all, policing our gender, controlling our sexuality), wrapped it up in the god we were force-fed when our native languages and religions were beaten out of us, and turned that ugliness into questions we think are worthy of our time and attention. Meanwhile public policy continues to edit us out of the economy en masse.
We need to wake up and join the 21st century. We’re nitpicking in other people’s private lives while the big picture is leaving us behind. Open your eyes.