Member-only story
Amanda Nguyen and All the Things We’d Rather Be Doing Than Fighting Injustice
TW: Rape, SA
“I write about racism, but there are so many other things I would like to write about instead. Help me dismantle racism so that I can get to that,” writer Zuri Stevens said in her About Me years ago.
I think about that a lot.
What else, what more could creative, talented, compassionate people be doing in a different world if they didn’t feel called to dedicate their life’s work to fighting injustice?
To those who complain about having to hear about racism or gender violence all the time, imagine living it. Imagine having to fight it when you’re not the one who created it. Imagine knowing that your ability to survive and thrive in an unjust world is inversely proportional to overcoming the forces designed to drown you.
Sometimes, I think about Houdini’s underwater box escape. The one that almost killed him. That stunt was a choice. He chose to shackle himself and escape underwater to entertain other people.
Writers, advocates, human rights attorneys, and civil rights leaders are fighting for the greater good. Regardless of the myriad other careers or hobbies they might have otherwise pursued, they chose the often soul-crushing vocation of social justice work.
