Bullying by another name is still oppresion

Today, I took the time from all I had to do for the day to participate in a "Stop the War on Women" protest. The purpose of the protest was the legislation at both the state and national level regarding the reproductive rights of women. Many of the speeches today were good. There was one speech that stuck out to me. The speaker mentioned the lack of LGBT support at the rally. I was shocked for I thought, am I not a "dyke". My being a lesbian is not one of the things on which I am quiet in Mississippi. It was then I remembered another speech that was similar. A Caucasian person, who attends the same spiritual service as I do, wondered if she should speak out on Treyvon Martin's murder. I thought at that time, why not you both are human and what happened was inhumane. Those incidents occurring within the same week coupled with an offline buddy making a statement about Jews started me to thinking. I should preface my thought with a little background. My grandmother who was not around for my conception never accepted me as being anything less than the child of a Jewish man whose mother lived in Italy before WWII got into full swing. Feel free to take a guess as to where her home was before coming to America. Because of his mother's experience, this Jewish man came to Mississippi to help Blacks gain rights. In my grandmother's view who took away my mother's rights while working to "free" other Blacks. Long story short, he and my mother left Mississippi on a motorcycle in the middle of the night and here I am. It is little wonder that even as a child I had little time for racists or bullies. Racists bullies were the ones who came up with "the final solution" and Jim Crowe. It is within the environment of fear created by bullies that those who desire to speak out wonder if they should. There is a fear that if one speaks out for justice on an issue with which they are not an affiliate they will be shouted down. My response is speak out. We should speak out if for no other reason we are all humans. We should speak out if for no other reason this spinning rock is our home. I do not make my living from fishing nor can I eat seafood, yet I speak out daily on the affects of the BP oil spill to my state. Although heterosexual Christian White males have more power in America than I, I am quick to contact DFACS when I suspect abuse of White males. Even though Muslims today are not known for loving homosexuals or Jews, I speak out on the abuse of the Palestinian people. If we remain quiet when we see bullying then it is only a matter of time when we find ourselves bullied. It is important to remember that the genocide of Jews in Europe did not occur overnight. It was a slow systemic process that continued until the final solution was implemented on a large scale. The oppression of one person is the oppression of all people. Be not afraid to speak up and to speak out for those who are being oppressed.