Political junkies, Society6 addicts, and the general populace all have this one thing in common: we can all recognize the general mad talent that the artist Shepard Fairey has. Who is this man? Well, if you’ll recall the Obama “Hope” posters from all that time ago, you will see that Fairey is the artist. Media has the ability to be both informative as well as influential. The past poster spread the concept of hope to the mind and heart of the people. Now, Fairey is taking on the President Elect, Donald Trump, with his designs and giving a voice to the marginalized people in the United States. Moments of applied activism such as this will be ever-important as hate crimes remain on the rise. However, we must also take into consideration that while he works to give these people a voice, he is not the voice of these people.
In an interview with CNN, Shepard Fairey notes some of Trump’s most dangerous personality traits—he’s sexist, bigoted, and lacks respect. For these reasons, the open-mouthed depiction of Trump taking away the Hope of America was created. For these reasons, a series called “We the People” with the notation of everyday Americans was creates: a woman in a hijab colored like the US flag, a latina woman, a young black person. These are just some of the people threatened by the new presidency. While opinions on the choice behind these images vary, and for good reason, (see the thread by the ever-vocal and ever-amazing Mona Eltahawy) they get a conversation started.
Dangerous rhetoric has become normalized and slowly integrated into casual conversation. That sector of Americans who were previously shamed into silence- or at least less collective in their voice- were woken up by a Presidential candidate saying things that bring forth mental and physical brutalization. Unfortunately, that shame is now virtually non-existent.
In laymen’s terms, hate crimes are on the rise—especially against Muslim Americans, LGBTQ+ people, black people, and Jewish people.
A 12-year old Staten Island school student, who seemingly has a history of violence and bullying, was charged with a hate crime against a female student wearing a hijab. She was able to keep the head scarf on her head, but sustained cuts and bruised from the volatile attack. Even with the boy’s history of violence, the school tried to keep this attack from being labeled as a hate crime, Jezebel reports. His mother claimed “he made a mistake.” Where have we heard this kind of oratory before?
People seem to be confusing political correctness with human decency. For example, it’s not political correctness that should keep an officer– or anyone for that matter- from grabbing a woman between her legs. That’s called not being a disgusting human. Morality should keep you from doing that; not wanting to be charged with sexual assault should keep you from doing that. There are people in every group who are good and who are bad.
These are just two instances where the hateful rhetoric of the future president has inspired people to act out. The officer outright said that the lack of worry for being political correct was the force that led him to go ahead and sexually assault the woman. It’s infuriating. It’s terrifying.
Activism is more important that ever right now. It can show unity, give people a voice, let others know that you are there-that you may not share or understand their personal struggles, but that you will stand beside them. That’s a comforting thought, not being all alone in a world that seems to be unraveling.
How can you work to be a quiet activist, if going to rallies isn’t your thing? (Or, go to rallies is they’re totally your thing.)
Buy work from marginalized people. Donate to organizations that are worthy of the cause. Support your non-Western authors, your LGBTQ+ artists, go see movies with people of color doing empowering things, or simply telling their stories. Follow the people on twitter who know what they’re talking about, who’ve experienced that you say you’re trying to support, to understand.
Show the world that these are the aspects of society that you are behind, and that you’re giving your time and money to. Understand that some things aren’t yours to call out, and then rally and support those who are able to sound them.