On a recent cold but sunny Sunday morning, my wife Betsy and I hunted through some drawers to find eight small safety pins to attach our numbers for the Hot Chocolate Run for Safe Passage. Betsy and I love supporting our local anti-domestic violence organization even more than we love running through the streets of our hometown.
Safe Passage gives hope to people in the seemingly hopeless situation of domestic violence. The Hot Chocolate Run is a joyful, exuberant event where thousands of people come together to turn hope into tangible fundraising that helps create a safer world.
We were short by one pin, so I took one from the lapel of the sport coat I planned to wear to work the following day. As a teacher, I’ve had a difficult time bringing hope to my classrooms since our country elected Donald Trump. Facilitating coherent discussions for angry, frightened students hasn’t been easy.
Leading up to the election, our work with writing and communications had focused on supporting claims with facts and evidence, as well as maintaining civility rather than vitriol. Now I face these students after the candidate who ran the most fact-free, evidence-deficient campaign in history has won the election. The candidate who ran the most offensive campaign since George Wallace somehow convinced more than sixty million voters to affirm his attacks with their votes.
How safe are we in a nation whose president-elect graces our Twitter feed with outright lies about election fraud and juvenile screeds against television shows that parody him? Are we safe in a nation whose new leader seems intent on conducting domestic and foreign affairs in ways that maximizes his personal profit? Are we safe in a nation whose potential cabinet members’ greed, corruption, and bigotry represent the antithesis of our best American values?
The safety pin I wear on my jacket is there to tell my students and colleagues that I’ll offer “safe passage” if they feel threatened. I’ll provide a listening ear or a protective ally for anyone who feels threatened by the atmosphere that led to the election of a president who rejects facts and embraces division. More than that, it tells them that I’m actively working to make our country and our world a safer place.
Wearing a pin to symbolize safety isn’t new. Some reports place its origin in the Danish resistance to Nazis during World War II. More recently, safety pins have been used as signs against Islamophobia in Australia and anti-immigrant bigotry in Great Britain. Not surprisingly, white supremacists have attempted to co-opt the safety pin by affixing it to their guns and Trump hats. Those guns and hats are a clue that safety isn’t the real goal.
Some of my students and colleagues have asked me about the safety pin, and nearly all have appreciated the meaning behind the symbol. Unfortunately, some have missed the point. One Trump-supporting colleague doubted I’d be an ally to any students who had voted for Trump. “Colleges are filled with liberals,” he said. “Conservative students are outnumbered and scared.”
I told him that I’d definitely be an ally to any students actually being abused because they voted for Trump. But simply being asked to defend their vote with facts isn’t abuse. Much of the “liberal” part of “liberal education” is a respect for evidence-based inquiry. When people don’t have evidence to support their views, then the rest of us need protection from their fact-free agenda.
One of Trump’s recent fact-free claims is that flag burning should be penalized with jail time or loss of citizenship. That’s already been ruled unconstitutional.
But his superficial rants resonate with those who think patriotism means never criticizing your country. That’s not patriotism. That’s nationalism, which has led to all sorts of problems – see the aforementioned World War II, for example. Patriotism means loving your country realistically enough to want to make it even better, not just ignoring its flaws. We need to guard against the nationalistic oppression that Trump and his followers embrace.
Burning the American flag, unfortunately, sets flame to the good and the bad. For folks who long for a flag to burn, they might consider the Confederate flag instead. That one symbolizes Trump’s views far better than the stars and stripes. For those interested in the symbolic value of a piece of clothing, ask a Trump hatter, “What makes America great?” I still haven’t gotten anything close to a good answer from them on that one. We can’t normalize Trump’s brand of aggressive ignorance.
The safety pin symbol is probably a fad. But actions always count more than symbols. I’ll keep working for “safe passage,” by plying my creaky joints in next year’s Hot Chocolate Run, by standing up for anyone who is oppressed, and by continuing to focus on facts and evidence as the best way to foster civic safety.
No one knows for certain how dangerous Trump’s presidency will be, but our country’s best responses should be hopeful, firm, informed dissent. We must push forward with facts, evidence, and civility – no matter how often we see the opposite from the temporary resident of our White House during the next four years.
John Sheirer is an author and teacher who lives in Florence. His most recent publication is a children’s counting book, “Tim-Buck-Ten,” co-written with his dog Libby. Find him at JohnSheirer.com.