beyond the safety pin

beyond the safety pin

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today at work, i had an email waiting for me among the 150 new ones from last week while i was gone asking to use the safety pin imagery across the college to show support for our minority students. from the president of the college. i hated to break it to her, but the safety pin thing has kind of taken a turn for the not great
the safety pin thing was taken from brits after brexit who wanted to support immigrants after the angst that was brexit (britain exiting from the EU basically kicks out all non-brits).
after trump won the election, anti-trumpers co-opted it for themselves showing that they can be a safe space for minorities. it’s pretty much taken off, so much so that the president of a small minnesota college wanted to plaster it all over college. but it’s also gotten a lot of backlash.
post-trump, there might be a lot of weird stuff going on, rolling back of civil rights and minority rights (think gay marriage and any progress made in race relations). and while it’s nice to show your support for anyone who might face adversity, the better thing you can do is throw support behind that pin. go beyond the slacktivism; beyond the pin.
instead of just wearing that pin, get involved in local political offices. volunteer at women’s shelters. escort women into planned parenthood. help out at a local food shelf or soup kitchen. call/email your legislators, especially those living in conservative districts. and all those place will definitely take donations!
so don’t just show your support; BE the support. be the change you wish to see in the world!

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