Well, today has been one hell of an experience.

First, I watched as Georgia flipped the Senate, giving Democrats the majority, which is a huge victory won by the exhaustive and determined efforts of Black voters and other voters of color in Georgia (Black people keep saving this country time and time again, despite that white liberals continue to do jack shit for them). Then, I watched as white supremacist domestic terrorists stormed the capitol building in D.C. at the behest of Donald Trump who has consistently incited violence throughout this election cycle. I watched as terrorists and rioters taunted police, stood atop police vehicles, and what did police do?

Not a damned thing. Because the bulk of these terrorists are white. Police actually opened the gates to allow the terrorists access to the capitol building. How long did it take for the National Guard to be deployed? How long for tear gas and flash bombs to be used? Hours. It took hours for the police to show any kind of force, and even then, it was short lived.

When women held a peaceful, sit-in protest during the Kavanaugh hearings, they were arrested. They were told they were trespassing, and they were arrested. When Black Lives Matter protesters held peaceful protests in D.C. after the murder of George Floyd, D.C. police responded in droves and with excessive amounts of violence. They arrested members of the press, they arrested people who were doing nothing but standing or walking, and all without warrants or the breaking of the law.

But because these terrorists, these white supremacists, are largely white, they’re actually given access to the capitol building, they’re allowed not only to enter the building, but also to steal podiums and made absolute asses of themselves, disrupting Congress as they debated the results of the electoral college vote, which is an outright threat on democracy. It’s not only an act of terror, in my opinion, it’s an act of war. And it was allowed to happen.

And what did Trump do? He told them “We love you. You’re very special.”

Yeah, you’re special kinds of privileged, whiny assholes.

What does this have to do with the residency? I don’t know. Nothing, really. I’m angry right now. So many Black people and Indigenous people told us that this would happen. Activists and queer people said this would happen. Other politicians said this would happen. A lot of us knew it would happen. We just hoped that Trump would be impeached (which he was) or charged with crimes (which he still might be, and I hope to god that he is) and that he wouldn’t actually be President during this election cycle.

But he is. And for so much of the unity rhetoric being spewed across the media and social media by the right, the moderates, and even members of the left, I just can’t. Because this isn’t actually about “differences of opinion” anymore. It’s not about different views on taxes or foreign policy or education or government spending; this is about the continued, intentional, dehumanization of anyone who isn’t white, cisgender, heterosexual, and male. It’s the ugly, poisonous bite of white, male, heteropatriarchy and supremacism. So no, there can’t be unity. I can agree to disagree on a lot of political discourse, but when so much oppression and marginalization is allowed to continue just because it continues to feed the pockets of the already far-too wealthy, and politicians not only allow it to occur but they actually champion these forms of oppression (like attempting to reverse Roe vs Wade and denying LGBTQIA+ people the rights to adopt or become foster parents and the murdering of Black trans people, among countless others), then I must refuse to unite.

Uniting with an oppressor for any reason, even just to “keep the peace,” is to side with the oppressor. Always. I’ve heard so many quotes like “The only way evil men triumph is for good men to do nothing” throughout my life; I’ve heard these quotes applied to justify the wars in Iran and Afghanistan; I’ve heard them applied to so many different scenarios, but never to a situation of actual evil.

Homelessness? It’s an evil, and yet the very people who argue to be on the side of love consistently fight to reduce government programs that specifically try to help people who are on the streets get off the streets. Rampant poverty? It’s an evil, and yet those same conservative politicians vote time and time again to cut taxes for the wealthy and for the largest corporations, which only decreases the middle class and increases those living in poverty. Deportation? It’s an enormous evil, one that has caused thousands of unwarranted deaths and separated children from their parents and even lost tens of thousands of migrant children; our immigration policies (which were implemented long ago and allowed to continue by both Clinton and Obama) have put human beings, many of them children, into cages without food, water, diapers, medicine, blankets, or even room to lay down.

I am disgusted. I am appalled. And yet I’m supposed to ignore all of these things (and how many more I could have listed that I didn’t) for the sake of “unity?” Because we’re “one people?” Apparently, we’re not one people because those fighting to actually be one people (Black Lives Matter activists, Indigenous activists, those fighting homelessness, LGBTQIA+ activists, sex work activists, all of whom are fighting to build an equitable country for all of us – which would mean that we are, indeed, one people) are turned by the right into “radicals” and “terrorists” when what we’re fighting for is, literally, just the right to live a life like anyone else’s.

But the more we fight for equality, the louder and angrier the oppressors become. Today is a prime example. There’s no fraudulent election. But the right, who told us in 2016 “You lost, get over it” are now throwing a massive temper-tantrum/hissy fit because they lost and they don’t like it. This is also evil. So what does that make those who sit back and do nothing?

White supremacy is one of the most insidious, putrid, festering aspects of this country, among many festering aspects, and I won’t sit back and do nothing. Nor will I call for peace and unity. Not until we have achieved equality for everyone. Not until the fight is over, and I doubt that will happen in my lifetime. Climate change might wipe us all out by the time my life is over anyway, so I intend to use however much of my life is left fighting as hard as I can for Black lives, for Indigenous lives, for migrant lives, for the lives of women and sex workers, for LGBTQIA+ lives, for the lives of the mentally ill and the differently abled. In the amazing Feminist and Queer Theory class I took in my last residency, it was said, “When we fight for the rights of the most oppressed among us, society as a whole becomes a more equitable place, and everyone benefits.”

We saw some incredible victories in Georgia today. And we saw what those victories brought out in the angry, radical right. As scary and frightening and upsetting as it is, it means we’re fighting the good fight. We have to keep fighting. We have to keep elevating the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. Democracy literally hangs in the balance.