Disagree with Shaun King or not, right wing, you are showing the depths of your depravity here. Stalking and harassing Mr. King, digging into his background, using the first names of his children for godsakes, what the fuck is wrong with you people? I really don't understand. All to deny what the man writes on a daily basis, that black people are being killed and its racism that is causing it all. You do understand that what you are doing only fucking proves the point, that black people are subject to bullying, harassing and stalking if they dare speak out. They are subject to having their entire histories denied just because they are fighting for something they dearly believe in, something that all their experiences informed them is unjust and unfair.
In support of Shaun, I will tell parts of my story. Because much like him, my experiences with injustice lead me to the progressive cause, which ultimately lead me to fight as hard as I can against racism in my limited social circle and presence online. I'll tell these parts of my story because they are deeply rooted in why I am a progressive, and they are also rooted why I fight as much as I can to make everyone I can influence know why black lives matter.
I faced a shit ton of bigotry growing up. A shit ton. Deny it or not there right wingers, but you and people like you made it exceedingly fucking difficult for me growing up, what with your moralizing and bible thumping and complete lack of fucking empathy for anything different from yourselves. You see, my mom is a lesbian, meaning I have two mothers. I know many of you have heard this before, but it has been a long time since I have recounted what happened to me growing up, and reading the attacks on Shaun today has rekindled a little of the emotion I went through, dealing with the vicarious bigotry my mom's "lifestyle" (FUCK YOU) brought on us kids.
My mom and dad got divorced when I was 5. My dad was a drunk, my mom said good riddance. I don't think it gets any more complicated than that really. She left my dad one night, kissed me and my newborn sister good bye with a tear in her eye and left. No idea where she went or what she did for the next couple of weeks. But the next time I saw her, I was packing my bags too.
My mom moved in with her partner, although it took a bit of time for them to tell us what was really happening beyond "we're roommates". They told us in the best way we could, and being little kids I think we understood. They were in love, and my siblings and myself would be a family with her kids and live together. We were in love with the idea, the my two step-siblings being my best friends at the time. It was a fortuitous turn of events in my 7 year old mind.
My parents tried to be cautious about their relationship. For fear of being judged, no PDA in public. To everyone else, my living situation was just a curiosity and nothing more, two roomies splitting the bill and raising the kids together. That was the lie we were told to tell everyone. Being kids, we didn't get the implications but we did what we were told.
The lie died one day after my sis (who has always been very defensive of our family), heard someone say "faggot" soon after she had learned that it was a slur against gay people. My sis yelled back at them that her mom was gay and that she was damned proud of it. And, all of a sudden, word got out.
Its not like it meant much to anyone in the beginning. I was in third grade, most of my classmates hardly had a grasp on sex itself let alone the concept of gay. For a while, I wasn't at all bullied, I thought all of it had been forgotten. Then middle school came.
Once kids got an understanding of what gay actually meant, the hell began. Taunting, bullying, getting called fag all the damn time. People covering their mouths because they were afraid to catch gay. I am not making this up. Its 100% true.
One particular experience sticks out in my mind, when a bigger kid spoke up and asked why my family was against god. In the classroom, right there in front of everyone. I gently said that we don't really talk that much about god in my house and that we don't really go to church, the kid sat down, stewing. After class he basically dragged me outside and threw me up against the lockers and said I was a satanist. I said "no, I don't know what you are talking about!" and pushed back, running away in tears. Shit like this was a regular occurrence.
One time when I was twelve we went to a park, and were swimming in a river to get away from the heat. Now that I think of it, it was right around this time of year. Really hot. My siblings and I see a big truck pull up with a flag that I had seen in history books before. A few white dudes pop out of the truck, my siblings turn around and we think nothing of it. All of a sudden, my mom is shouting for us to get to our van and leave the park. Little had I known my mom and her partner had kissed and they were now being pursued by a group of fucking skin head white supremacists. My mom told me the story when I grew up a bit, and I shudder to this day at how close we came to being dead or maimed that day. Matthew Sheppard was beaten to death later that year. It could have been us. How many times did that happen without me even realizing it?
Having faced bigotry like that all my life gave me an orientation towards fighting things that are unfair. As I grew up, I became more radical in my views, not only about my parents right to be married, but everyone's right to simply exist as they are. I guess this was my colorblind phase before I knew anything about race and racism. My heart was in the right place, having come from a background of bigotry and bullying, but my ideas had to be honed. Thats when I started going to college and I found dailykos. It also gave me a unique sensitivity to people's stories.
Thats why when I see the right wing attacking Shaun King on the grounds that his history is made up, it is the deepest of personal insults to everyone who has a story here including myself. I know what you all are doing -- hopefully, somehow, if you deny all these personal stories about bigotry and hatred perhaps you can deny ever creating the environment in which kids like me grew up. But that Rovian shit ain't gonna work with me, you fucks. I know the environment you right wing pukes built in the 1990s and early 2000s. I know it, I am intimately familiar with it, and you are not going to rewrite history on this one. You all created the environment of bullying, racism, sexism, homophobia and intolerance that we had to grow up in. Why else would someone like Donald fucking Trump be soaring in the polls. You all chow down this bigoted crap. And then go after anyone who simply shares their experience with bullying and harassment and stalking. It is the lowest of the fucking low. You all are the most shameful human beings I have ever had the displeasure of knowing exist. Its disgusting.
So I have decided to fight back by once again sharing my story and reminding everyone that the right wing built this. They built it. And people like Shaun are doing the good work of tearing it down. Thats why they hate him. Thats why the bully him. Thats why they'll do anything to discredit him. People like him are winning. People like me are winning.
Thank whatever god there is in this universe for that.