Читать книгу The Savvy Ally - Jeannie Gainsburg - Страница 22

As I mentioned earlier, this book isn’t about why you should be an ally; it’s about how to be an ally. The rest of this book will be focused on actions for helping to make the world a better and more inclusive place. However, I always get the “why” questions as I do this work, and I suspect you do (or you will) as well. Why are you so passionate? Why this social justice issue? Why are LGBTQ+ rights so important to you? Your responses to these questions can be a powerful tool for creating change and I encourage you to think about your answers. Here’s one of mine.

I once asked my grandmother how the Holocaust happened. She was an elderly Jewish woman, and I thought she would be able to explain it to me. I wanted to know the details, like why the Jewish people didn’t run, hide, or rip the Star of David from their clothing. But my grandmother had grown up in Brooklyn, and she couldn’t explain it to me any better than the history books could.

It wasn’t until I read Schindler’s List that I began to understand the process of systematic oppression that had taken place: starting with the name-calling and scapegoating, moving gradually into discrimination and segregation, and on to acts of violence and eventually to genocide.

For many people the Holocaust must feel like ancient history. But for others—like me, in my fifties—it was shockingly recent. After hiding in a friend’s attic for more than two years, Anne Frank was killed a mere eighteen years before I was born.

One of my biggest fears is that I will be able to explain to my grandchildren exactly how something like this could happen. How first we allowed doctors to refuse care to LGBTQ+ people because it went against their religious beliefs. How we then removed safe access to bathrooms and other facilities for transgender people. How there were mass shootings in LGBTQ+ spaces, until, finally, I had people hiding in my attic.

I refuse to allow this to become my future story. It’s why I do the work that I do. It’s why I wrote this book. Allies are a mighty and necessary force for any social justice movement. If you are inspired to be a part of that force, or you are already, I hope this book will give you tools for your adventure. If the fire to create change is not yet burning within you, I am honored that you are giving me the opportunity to light the match.