So I’m now embarking on my fourth month outside the US. I’ve been living in South America since February. It’s kind of a weird thing, living on another continent, away from community, family, partner, school, history/herstory, that I’m used to. And yes, I expected it to be different, that’s why I came here. On some level, I think I came here to see what would happen if I left.

Would my priorities change? Would my worldview suddenly shift to a whole different dimension? Would I care about the same stuff when I was gone, and when I got back? Some folks told me that I wouldn’t care, that I’d be too wrapped up in “finding myself” to notice what was going on in the States. Would Tumblr and Facebook and Colorlines and Feministing (and sometimes even the New York and Los Angeles Times) stop blowing up with incidents of violence against folks from communities “deviating from the norm”? (Yes I know it’s naive for me to have thought that, but some super privileged part of me wanted it to be true.) 

And the answer, I soon discovered, was a blaringhonkingblazing NO. No, to all of my questions. Fuck, right when I left, Travyon was murdered. Then there was Shaima Alawadi. Then there was Brandi Martell this week in Oakland. And black face on 30 Rock. and Hipster Racism. And more attacks on folks of color, women, and queer folks from everywhere. And to top it all off, there folks in my own life who are struggling on a daily basis with their own intersectionalities. 

And as I think about all these folks who are fighting on a daily basis, who put words to their struggles and sometimes entrust me with their stories, I feel stuck and empowered at the same time. I’m on another continent for the next few weeks, and then I’m back to the Bay. Back to where I can be with my community and continue evaluating what I can do, what we can do, to stop this shit, together.

No, Tracey, this shit doesn’t go away, no matter where you are. Out of sight and out of mind doesn’t work. Being someone from the United States in a Latin American/South American country has definitely given me perspective. The perspective that fights for social justice are never-ending and community-based, and that my role in these fights matters too, no matter where I am. 

(and yeah, I know it’s really fucking privileged that I can think these thoughts, to come study abroad as a White womyn in a land colonized by White people at the expense of thousands of Brown people)