Throw away your blue bracelet

The recent blue bracelet fad, just like the pink hats and safety pins, are superficial and performative nonsense meant to make people – white people in particular – feel better for a hot minute and signal that they’re one of the “good ones.”

Take it off. Set it on fire.

This is one of the ways that many people went wrong in 2016 – they were not committed to a sustained effort. They were willing to march and yell on social media and accessorize and some were even willing to read books.

None of those things are true resistance, nor will they move us forward in a direction that counteracts hate and greed.

True resistance is hard. It’s work. It requires a sustained effort. It requires a willingness to not censor yourself or walk the line or keep the peace. It requires taking a hard and honest look at yourself and the ways in which you have contributed and still contribute to the dumpster fire of unabashed hatred that so many Americans have happily embraced.

The truth we all have to embrace is that you can oppose the MAGA cult and still be part of the problem. And one really big problem that happened in 2016 was a huge outcry that ended up doing absolutely nothing, because people didn’t want to do the work. They didn’t want to self-reflect. They wanted change, but didn’t want to put in the effort.

Marches are performative. Accessories are performative. Social media posts are performative – even this blog post is performative. But I’m doing more than just this in my 3D life.

Are you?

Throw away your blue bracelet, and start looking around for ways you can take meaningful action.