It's not enough to be angry.
Survival and progress cannot be rooted in anger alone, for anger must itself be rooted elsewhere.
It’s not enough to be angry.
There is an anger slowly boiling beneath this place. When we are told we must own things to build our wealth and our power, and then denied the ability to do so through systematic economic oppression, there is an anger there. When we are driven into poverty by our sickness, both through the will of health insurers and the lack of worker protections that mean to go without work is to go without survival, there is an anger there. When peaceful protests are met with riot gear, when demands for human rights are met with fearmongering, when the needs of our most vulnerable are met with contempt, and when the realization grows that we are left for dead by a system that views its people, its foundation, its bedrock as disposable, there is an anger there. And this is as it should be.
These things should make you angry. They should make you furious. But that anger in and of itself is not enough, not nearly enough. For every ounce of anger that we harbor in ourselves, we must just as well hold two ounces of commitment, of action, of sheer will to change our world and change the system that we find ourselves within. What’s more, for every ounce of anger we must further hold three ounces then of love, love for those we hold dear, love for those in our community, love for strangers on the street. Even, from time to time, love for those who stand against us now.
It is not enough to be angry. To be angry for our own circumstances alone is itself a failure, for we are not alone. We are supported by community, or should be at the very least, and so to should our anger be on behalf of our community, and not even on behalf of one delineated clearly. Our community as trans people, or queers, or women. Our communities defined by class, by race, by occupation and location and ability. It is not enough to be angry for ourselves, for instead our anger bust be defined by our love. Our love for one another. Our love for those we know and just as well for those we don’t.
And for that love-defined enragement, we as well must act. There is no single revolution coming, no day of judgement on which sins will be revealed and the left shall take it’s place upon the holy throne. There is now and always will be the drudging fight. The campaign. The actions we must take are those of movements, of people, of sheer human mass of will, of commitment, of belief, and of organization. This is our revolution, the revolution of the many minute actions culminating into social force. Revolution is the unionization of your workplace. Revolution is the anti-book-ban school board member you helped get elected. Revolution is the protest watched by people nation-wide who see the police in riot gear attack you, beat you, haul you off, and the growing fear and anger deep within them. Revolution is the swell inside the heart of all of us, that call that pushes us to act and speak and advocate. That pushes us to call for and forth the changes that must come if those we love, all those we love, all those we see, are to live in dignity and comfort.
This country will not fall. This system will not magically shatter and be born anew in our desired image. We must be both builder and demolitionist, both constructor and deconstructor simultaneously, removing one brick from this vast facade each at a time, to quickly replace it with another, better brick, working up from the foundation. Now is the time to gather up your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors, and with their support and backing take your place. Be an advocate. Be a speaker. Be an organizer. Pick a hill to die on and then prepare yourself to do so.
Before the last election I tried to make a point, though likely too quietly, and too late. I said that while there are only a few hundred elected officials in the federal government, there are thousands of state offices in this country, and over half a million local elected officials1. That’s 1 in every 500 adults2, and 1 in every 300 people who voted in the last election3.
Revolution begins in the coffee houses. It begins in the bars. It begins in the parks, the libraries, the spaces where people of all stripes yet who share the same goals, and the same or similar oppressions, share as well a dialogue. Revolution begins when we see each other for our humanity, for our similarities, for our differences, and it begins when we choose to love each other. When we choose to fight for each other. In many ways the shift of dialogues like these to online spaces has altered this dynamic, both made the language and the similarity far easier to find, and yet in doing so has hardened us against the compromise, against the faulted ally, against the common goal shared with someone you may otherwise dislike. It is not new nor interesting to claim that online discourse is a polarizing affair, but it must still be said, must still be hammered into place, for revolution grows from coalition, and coalition grows from common goals and understandings. We drive increasing wedges in between us in pursuit of some moral perfectionism that not only cannot be attained, but keeps us from pursuing progress.
It is not enough to be angry. For every ounce of anger we must take two ounces of action, and three of love. That love must be absolute, and that action must apply to everyone. Likewise that love must be compassionate, and that action must be bolstered by a broad collective. It is not enough to be angry, to be outraged at our own specific oppression, we must share of our experience with others and band together all who share that same or similar experience. It is not enough to be angry for our oppression, we must find recognition in each other for it, we must bind ourselves together through our mutual love, and we must aid each other, support each other, campaign for each other, so we may also win together, succeed together, progress together.
It is not enough to be angry, for we must root our anger and our action in our love and care for one another.
There are half a million local elected officials in this country. One for every three hundred voters. You have one year, then two, then three, then four. Now is the time to build your coalition. Now is the time to organize in your community, to reach out, to listen to the grievances and the oppressions of those others and share to them your own. How many people voted for your city council? Voted for the chair of some improvement district where you live, or for your local utilities and services and welfare programs? How many people would it take for you to sit up there, in that stuffy council room in city hall, on the board of some local program or project that’s in charge of funding food banks, or investigating police reform, or banning books from schools? How many people need to vote to put you there, or someone else whom you can help support? Someone in that coalition of your shared and seen experience?
You live in a system where positions of power, at least in some small sense, can still be taken. It may not be easy, but it can be done, and it can be done by rallying in your communities. You feel as though your government has abandoned you? So do I. It has. The voting public of this country elected unto us a man and congress both who wants me dead, and given my audience demographics of mostly trans folks, they probably want you dead too. Screw that. If the federal level won’t protect you, look to the state. If not the state, then the county, the city, whatever you have on offer. Find those like yourself, not just in gender, race, or creed, but in suffering, and band them together to create a sanctuary, fortified against the worst of the oppression. From that seed you plant in your community, from within your local government, nurture it, and help it grow. Bring more people in, affect more change, form bonds with others who now do the same, then grow to a higher level and look toward the state. This is what it means to be a grass roots movement. We build from the bottom up, and we build up from not a central node, but everywhere, slowly, and at once.
Be angry. Be angry for what is faced by those you care for, by your neighbors, by your friends, by your community, but do not let yourself fall for the trap of simple outrage. Do not believe that feeling this, nor merely giving voice to it, will be enough. It must be channeled as the impetus for action, and all of it must be rooted in your care.
It is not enough to be angry. For every ounce of anger, take two of action, and three of love.
Eastman, Bryan. “How Many Politicians Are There in the USA? (Infographic).” PoliEngine, August 1, 2019. https://poliengine.com/blog/how-many-politicians-are-there-in-the-us.
Bureau, US Census. “The U.S. Adult and under-Age-18 Populations: 2020 Census.” Census.gov, November 6, 2024. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/adult-and-under-the-age-of-18-populations-2020-census.html.
“2024 Election: Live Results Map.” AP NEWS, December 10, 2024. https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/?office=P.