Now Is Not The Time For Tears

I told myself not to watch the recent segment between Anderson Cooper and Van Jones as they spoke about President Trump's deeply offensive and completely tone deaf press conference after the events in Charlottesville, VA.  I went out of my way not to watch it as it aired.  But today I watched it, against my better judgment.  I found myself frustrated and somewhat angry(as I knew I would be).  The thing is though, I was frustrated with Van Jones.

Let me explain.  Donald Trump is a repugnant human being who is completely unfit to be POTUS.  I've said this many times.  We've known this for a long time.  So his statements regarding what occurred in Charlottesville and his attempts to "blame all sides" for the violence that occurred and resulted in the death of a young woman came as no shock to me whatsoever.  Trump is garbage.  That's what garbage does.  But during that segment with Anderson Cooper, as he spoke I found myself very frustrated with Van Jones.  Specifically, I was frustrated with the tears.  As I listened to him I was overwhelmed with the thought "What the fuck are you crying for?".

Please don't misunderstand me.  Racism hurts.  Being hated hurts.  Being marginalized hurts.  I understand that.  I also don't believe Jones is less of a man or a human being for crying.  There is nothing wrong with a man shedding tears when he is in pain.  Sometimes we all must cry.  That said, now is not the time for tears.  White supremacists and Nazis have been emboldened and are aggressively seeking to push their agenda.  They have the open support of a bigoted, narcissistic POTUS who they have rallied behind.  We don't need tears right now.  We need strength.  We need courage.  We need to find the will to resist these people.

We need brothers like Van Jones, who have the visibility and platform to be heard by many, to speak with conviction.  To speak the truth to power.  We have been shedding tears for centuries.  Our tears have not moved our enemies one bit.  Our tears have not melted the hearts of our oppressors at all.  We have cried an ocean of tears and it hasn't changed the hearts who would crush us under the heel of their boots.  We need this strength and conviction right now.  We're going to have to lean on each other a lot in the coming days, months, and years.  We must steel ourselves.

There will be a time for us to shed our tears.  To release our emotion.  To nurse our wounds and to deal with our hurt.  To come together and let go.  To hug each other and cry it out.  But now is not that time.  No disrespect to the Brother Van Jones.  I simply believe now is not the time to be on television crying and acting shocked that Donald Trump is being who he has always shown himself to be.  We will have our time to cry.  Now is not it.   Thank you for reading.