To My Beloved Royalty...

I don’t know if any of y’all have noticed, but from the time I took a break from The Princess in 2016 to today, hate has been on the march, taking huge strides. Far right reactionaries have been settling into the highest seats of power. This is nothing new, and the ideas they adhere to are as ancient as they are vile. This hatred is not new, but it is encouraged, emboldened, and empowered. They roar in halls where their leaders stoke the hot passion of weaponized ignorance.

We’ve seen this before.

Paramilitary formations like the Oath Keepers pledge that they are ready to be activated by “constitutional” political leaders. That which is constitutional is up to their sole discretion. Our highest executive has been considering plans for a private spy network. He has appealed to gun enthusiasts threatening political rivals. He’s threatened the use of “his” police, “his” military, and loyal citizens ready to “get tough” on his behalf.

This, too, is behavior that is familiar to those with a long view of history.

The shores of the American continents are ones the most heinous acts that can be enacted upon any people have been commonplace. And yet because of this, we can look about us and see peoples and cultures that have survived the worst and are still standing. If we need to see resilience, look around yourself…. not in the comfortable communities, but upon the streets of our cities. On the reservations. In places near and far.

The Black Panther Party had a notion that one can’t defeat racism with racism, but that it must be fought with solidarity. I would suggest that we can’t fight the petty hatreds of the day with anything other than this most powerful force. Those who are trans, agender, enby, or otherwise cannot only have solidarity with each other. We must be apart of a greater solidarity against all oppressed peoples. This will mean working past hate…. that of others for us as well as our own for others. But this necessity is not a matter of convenience but survival, and we will find allies in all quarters when we look.

If I sound alarmist, it is because I’m alarmed. But I’m also determined. This is not a time to sit on the sidelines. It’s a time to get involved. I’ve been involved in a few things I’m not ready to share yet. But whatever your political tendency, whatever level of pessimism or optimism we may have, the way for there to be a future worth living in is to build it, together, arm in arm and shoulder to shoulder.

Trans revolutionary Leslie Feinberg wrote, “Like racism and all forms of prejudice, bigotry against transgendered [sic] people is a deadly carcinogen. We are pitted against each other in order to keep us from seeing each other as allies. Genuine bonds of solidarity can be forged between people who respect each other's differences and are willing to fight their enemy together.”

While we may find the use of the -ed suffix here archaic, the sentiment is eternal and truer today that it’s ever been.

Come together in solidarity, We will protect our children and win a future for them. But to do this, we must leave the spectator seats and choose our side.

Which side are you on?