this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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Oh, well I guess they win then. Deep down they're probably good people, so we just ignore their bigotry and allow it to proliferate further and continue to make the rest of the world a worse place for people I care about.
Fuck that. I cut out my family for being bigots. I told them specifically why and I refuse to take their phone calls. You have to let people know that those beliefs are wrong and let them know that there are social consequences for continuing to believe them. America didn't pass the Civil Rights Act by waiting until people just came around and agreed with them. They said "This is wrong, and now illegal." and made them deal with the consequences (Kinda. It's still America and still pretty racist so..)
Point is, change doesn't happen by ignoring shitty behavior. This kind of behavior needs to be confronted and shut down every time. EVERY TIME.
To add, MLK thought passing the civil rights act was a mistake after it was passed. It didn't go far enough, and it passing pretty much ensured nothing else would be done in addition. Sometimes something that looks good on the surface is actually damaging. Just because this person's father suger coated their bigotry (in this particular message at least) doesn't solve the problem that they're a bigot and making their daughters quality of life worse.