Throwing Bricks: When Oppressed People Have Had Enough

The last twelve or so months have been a roller-coaster of emotions. On every front we seem to be assaulted by attacks on many of the values that we hold dear as Americans. Truth has been replaced by opinion, logic by shock value, and the voices of diverse communities continually silenced under the guise of patriotism and faith.

As a member of a minority group, I have felt the tension very strongly. Every morning as I wake up, there is a gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach that signals to me an uneasiness about what the day will hold. All around me I see ordinary people empowered to behave in discriminatory and hurtful ways. I have watched my government strategically dismantle the protections people like me gained over the last decade.

There are days when I feel hopeless, when I wonder if the life I treasure will be taken from me. Will I be able to finish my doctorate? Will I be able to marry and have children? What kind of future will they have? I worry about the people whom I love who are also affected by these trying times, and I wonder if they will be safe.

I recently had a conversation with a friend in which I bemoaned these concerns. I told her, “I worry about having my dignity taken away.” “Darcy,” she said, “that is the only thing you have that can never be taken from you.” Her words struck me like a brick, and they led me to think for many days about the pathways our community have taken to get to where they are today.

When we think about the events at the Stonewall Inn and the foundation they laid for the Pride celebrations we have each year, it is common to forget that the first bricks thrown at that fateful riot in 1969 were thrown by transgender women of color. Women such as Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera and Miss Major put themselves in the front lines of our fight for equality. They were marginalized people who had had enough.

They were tired of being told they weren’t good enough, that they weren’t worthy of sitting at the table of American life. They were tired of having their safety threatened and their dignity trampled. They were tired of worrying about their loved ones like them.

My dearest ones: We are in a hard time right now. We will be threatened and mocked. We will have all sorts of injustices thrown at us. But we cannot give up. We must continue to boldly live our truths and reclaim our narratives.  We cannot forget that they, our foresiblings, experienced hard times as well, and they resisted and fought back. And the bricks they threw laid a foundation for the lives you are living today.

In the same way, the bricks we throw in resistance will lay the foundation for the next generation.

-Darcy

Darcy J. Corbitt-Hall
President and CEO