![]() ![]() People get caught up in waving the flags, or putting up the posters, or buying safety pin brooches in chic gold with diamonds, and believe that's sufficient: they've said they're supportive, and that's that. This is often the downfall of big, symbolic gestures of support. It is equally easy to wear a symbol of support and neglect to involve yourself in actual support." "It’s all too easy to invest in the symbol and ignore the people who are being harmed by the thing you’re wearing the symbol to protest. "I think it’s a nice idea if, and only if, it is accompanied with a plan of action," DeBrujah tells Bustle. DeBrujah and other critics point out that putting on the safety pin should represent a certain responsibility: if you wear it, you are declaring yourself to be a safe space, a person on whom marginalized communities can rely when sh*t goes down. The pushback against safety pins is pretty simple: it's centered on the worry that a symbol pinned to your shirt, powerful though it may be in concept, will not be sufficient to protect people who are facing real violence and harassment in Trump's America. A persuasive perspective argues that they should in fact stand for action, and indicate people who are willing to step in to help when harassment and abuse actually take place.īustle talked to Isobel DeBrujah, a US Air Force veteran and social justice organizer with training in criminal justice and psychology whose post, "So You Want To Wear A Safety Pin," went viral, about the responsibilities of performative support and what it really means to wear a safety pin in public. ![]() There's a more pressing issue underneath this flurry, though: in this environment, safety pins should perhaps do more than indicate "I am a safe person," or demonstrate your social awareness. Safety pins are now encountering a backlash the Washington Post called them " an emblem of white guilt," and people are mocking jewelry designers who hopped on the bandwagon to sell elite safety pin pieces for huge amounts of money that could otherwise go to social causes. But are safety pins enough? And what does wearing one actually mean? With swastikas turning up as graffiti and school teachers reportedly taunting their students about being deported, it's a volatile environment in which privileged allies feel the need to show that they stand unquestionably with immigrants, people of color, the LGBTQ community, transgender people, and others who are being threatened and harassed. After President-elect Donald Trump's victory, the idea made its way to the United States, and it's understandable why. Got a safety pin? Been seeing them everywhere and not entirely sure what they mean? The safety pin phenomenon hit Britain first in the wake of the Brexit vote in June 2016, in which Britain voted to leave the European Union, racist incidents spiked, and people vowed to "wear them as a public symbol to show solidarity with immigrants," as The Guardian reported at the time. ![]()
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