raisel-the-riveter:

please sign up to sit all day in a room where people are debating whether or not it’s ok to be a person like you

please sign up to be the only person like you who is at the table where people are debating this

please sign up to sit nonreactively while the other people at the table name you as a representative of the group under consideration. please sit nonreactively while they address you personally and swear up and down that they don’t want to offend you. please sit nonreactively when they still arrive at the conclusion that  it’s better to be like them, than to be like you.

please sign up to remain at the table while people discuss the range of awful things that people like them do to people like you. remain at the table while people parse whether these awful things may be effective. remain at the table while people parse whether there are acceptable reasons to do the awful things. remain at the table while people divide the awful things into some which are acceptable and some which are unacceptable.

if you draw a strong line, you may be viewed as unreasonable, radical, militant, and/or unable to compromise

if you appear offended, you may lose the favor of the others at the table

if you lose their favor, they may judge the entire group under discussion more harshly. you may lose their indulgence to have input in the debate

if you leave the table, there will be no people like you left at the table

the things this fucking city does to people