So in another post about Day of Silence, one of several “queer holidays” and observances, we discussed what it is in depth and why it might not be for everybody due to the whole top-down privilege thing and who gets seen as human (ergo, whose silence matters most and whose goes unnoticed because they weren’t being listened to anyway).
While Day of Silence is noble in that it stands in solidarity with bullied students, it frames interpersonal bullying solely for one’s queerness as the only hurdle to those students. Not playing “Oppression Olympics”, but anyone with eyes can see the hurdles are surely stacked.
So. We already know everybody isn’t here for Day of Silence, so in this quickie post, I’m just here to make some noise about a potential alternative to Day of Silence: Day of the Silenced.
So what that be?
What if instead of acting as though queerness exists solely in a vacuum impervious to privilege and oppression, we use Day of the Silenced to give voice and recognition to people who face oppression for being queer in addition to the obstacles they already face. It would require folks examine themselves and their stations in life before and after LISTENING to people who are silenced. In this way, not only are white queer folks centered, but we can recognize that class, race, religion, disability, etc. play a large role in what we define as queerness. Day of the Silenced would show that queer is complicated and multidimensional and stand in solidarity with a greater number of bullied students.
Idk, just a thought.
What do you think would be a great alternative to Day of Silence. DO you think there even needs to be one and Day of Silence represents everyone by itself? Let us know in the comments section!