I’ve got a safety pin on my sweatshirt; it’s small, unobtrusive, and kind of blends in with the background, but if someone’s looking for it, they can see it.

If you’re not familiar with this trend, the idea goes back to post-Brexit solidarity with refugees in Britain earlier this year (and, based on some other things I’ve read, it reaches back further to the “I’ll ride with you” movement in Australia back in 2014), and is intended as a symbol that the person wearing a pin is a “safe space” for someone who is feeling marginalized or uncomfortable in the current environment in America; a sign that you’re there if someone needs you.

There’s been a lot of media on this whole thing in the last week, from the bland to the slightly more detailed, from “hey, make sure you understand the implications” to “you’re embarassing yourself, don’t do that”.

That last one, in particular, makes me think a little bit. As part of the white, educated, sort of well-off, liberal, UU faction of the American tapestry, I’ve found myself uncomfortable more than once watching my bretheren in privileged tolerance totally miss the point of something with the best of intentions and end up accidentally being offensive in their ignorance. A friend of mine in the same circles (who, I’d argue, has a lot more background and training in these areas than I do) has been posting articles warning of misdirected activism, inlcuding a couple of those above, but the one I’m linking to here, dealing with the concept of “ally theater,”, definitely got me reflecting further on intentions and appearances.

“Ally theater” as it’s used above, describes this kind of activistm done with the intention to draw positive attention to oneself for one’s virtue. I worry about that. There’s a lot of this kind of thing out there, and while it is done, at least in part, out of good intentions, there’s a whole lot of patrician ““White Man’s Burden” subtext wrapped up in it as well, that none of us should be comfortable with. Outward Noblesse oblige isn’t really a good look on anyone, even if we all do have a duty to one another.

I’m not entirely sure how to take my point, tie it up in a bow, and stick a (ahem) pin in it…this post is a lot of rambling thoughts and a laid bare example of my thought process when presented with lots of points of view, each with equal, but different, value.

That said, as I wrote in the first sentence here, I’m still wearing a pin. I like the symbolism it represents. I like the idea of people choosing to be safe spaces for folks who feel marginalized by recent events. I’d like to think that I could be that person when put in that position. The pin is just as much, if not more, or a reminder for me to be that person as it is an outward symbol that I’m a resource for someone else.