Safety Pin Nation

     I've started wearing a safety pin.

   For anybody out there who hasn't yet hear of safety pin-wearing, it's a movement that started in the United Kingdom after the Brexit vote resulted in a staggering increase in incidents of violence against immigrants and people of color.   The wearing of a safety pin in the U.K. became a protest  against these hate crimes and a message to people vulnerable to attacks sparked by racism and bigotry that they are not alone, that they have allies.  The pin makes the statement that its wearer is a safe person, a person who can be turned to for help if one feels threatened or afraid. 
     Here in the U.S. within days after Donald Trump's election there were already hundreds of episodes of the same kind of marginalization of and hateful behavior towards minorities,  and so Americans have joined in the wearing of a safety pin with the same message of rejection of racism and bigotry and as a pledge to be a safe person, an ally, a witness, and, in so far as we are able, a defender.

     There have been critics of the Safety Pin movement, those who say that wearing a pin is a facile gesture, no more than a self-aggrandizing fashion accessory for white people, a poor substitution for doing something meaningful. 
       I'll admit that at first I, too, weighed similar misgivings about wearing a safety pin.  Don't actions speak louder than symbols?  Couldn't people just stand up for the rights of their fellow human beings without wearing a pin? 
        Well, yes,  but wearing the pin may make it easier to do so.
       First of all, the act of attaching the pin and wearing it daily can serve as a reminder, a raising of  one's consciousness to the reality of the injustice and abuse that people here in our own country, likely in our own community, are being subjected to.  Not that minorities haven't always been subjected to mistreatment, but in this past week it's gotten it's worse, especially among school children.

     And then the deplorable act on President-
elect Donald Trump's part of appointing a despicable white supremist as his chief advisor is equal to giving a blessing to all acts social injustice towards minorities.    

     And so we must all face the fact that these days any one of us of any race, religion, ethnicity, gender or orientation could in fact find ourselves witnessing an insult or verbal or even physical harassment against a vulnerable person.  But maybe just being visible in a public with a pin attached to one's coat or collar representing a (sort of) organization that stands against such behavior could be enough to discourage a bigot from an acting out.  Because the pledge that goes with the pin is that the wearer will not ignore an act of abuse against a vulnerable person.  We will do what we can to take the person's part.

     A 22-year-old French artist who goes by the pen-name Maeril,

...created a cartoon with step-by-step instructions for actions to be taken by by-standers who witness an act of harassment taking place.

     The Twitter site @SafetyPinNation offered the following guide, which includes pulling out one's cell phone and recording the incident when possible.

     In truth my main trepidation about wearing the safety pin in public is that if I  should ever witness an incident of harassment against a marginalized person I might hesitate, or not know what to do, or do the wrong thing, or choke and end up doing nothing at all.
    In truth I am, like many people, pretty conflict-averse. 
    But then maybe I actually do have it within me to rise to adversity though I may not yet know it. Maybe all good people do have it somewhere within them.  Hopefully  wearing the pin will help make all of us who wear it braver, less afraid to do the right thing.
      A safety pin is not something people have to go to much effort to find.  It's not exclusive.  It's something most of us already possess.  We  just need to dig it out of the drawer and pin it on.  And then, hopefully, be able to do the same with the courage of our convictions.

References:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/fashion/safety-pin-ally-activism.html

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/safety-pin-movement-takes-hold-amid-trump-presidency-fears/

https://twitter.com/SafetyPinNation