Back when I was a child, many decades ago, my parents taught me a hard lesson. After being bullied by another, larger child, I ran home seeking solace. Instead to giving me a hug and comfort, my parents surprised me. They put me back outside and told me, “You go out there and fight him! he’ll never stop until you do.” They wouldn’t let me back inside until I defended myself. I got my butt whipped, but it accomplished something I didn’t expect. After beating me, the bully sought out other kids that would not fight him and left me alone.
Sometimes the fight is the thing.
As I grew up during the civil rights era, folks who had lived for decades under the weight of segregation and blatant discrimination in all aspects of their lives, faced a choice — to confront a system with overwhelming might and which was prone to violence, or to choose to continue down the path of subservience. No way we could win. Fighting would only make things worse. We would spark a backlash and people (our people) would get hurt.
All of that was true, and most of the predictions were accurate. But the alternative was to submit and do nothing. So we fought. Old and young we fought. We were tired of submission. Tired of beatings, lynchings, death. Tired of unemployment, bad schools, bad housing. We knew things could get worse, and for many of us it did, but we fought and demonstrated, and died, and got beaten and jailed and lynched. We lost jobs, and housing. And we were jailed by the thousands.
And a strange thing happened. A nation took notice and realized that while we were losing out, so were they. And the nation changed.
Cause sometimes it’s the fight, not the win, that changes the game.
Picking a losing fight is probably not the best strategy. Especially when the other side holds the power and the police and the courts and public opinion. But sometimes the fight is all you’ve got. Sometimes you’ve just got to dig in your heels and go out and hit the bully back.
The fight let’s the bully know, this is going to cost you too. Sets the stakes a little higher for them. Let’s them know that just having the power is not enough. It changes the calculus.
Maybe Schumer is right. We can’t win. We’ll get the blame. Things will be worse. So we should just go along.
But one thing I know, if we don’t fight — we lose — and keep on losing. If we don’t fight we give them a free pass.
If we don’t fight we submit!
