Mel Wilde

How we view impact and intent is one of the most staggering differences between progressives and conservatives.  Progressives believe that actions, or impacts, define the morality of our work. We believe, if our actions harm others, then what we did was wrong. This law hurts people, restricts their rights, gives them less access to resources; let's change it. Conservates tend to believe that intent is more important than impact. For them, they can support any action if it is in service of their morality. For instance; they think gay people are morally wrong, and so restricting their rights and resources…

Social justice work asks us to rethink who we are, and the amount of space we take up. To hold ourselves accountable in ways that are deeply uncomfortable yet necessary.  Part of why white supremacy is so successful is because it uses excellent teaching methods. It reaches out and comforts white people, tells them it’s ok to have hurt feelings, that they are good and right. The white supremacy leverages how social justice educates to radicalize people by telling them that anyone who is challenging them to be better is just a snowflake. Part of what we need to recognize…

Our society is starting to commonly use a wider variety of labels for sexual and gender identities. It is wonderful. Yet, sometimes we hear a new label, and we want to show we are cool and inclusive, so we assume someone uses a label without asking. Unfortunately, this can lead to stereotyping based on sexist, racist, or classist bias. I will be speaking about my own life; my views don't represent anyone else's experience.  A fair number of people assume that I use the labels gender non conforming (GNC) and masc (masculine) to describe myself. When I ask why they…