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I don’t feel welcome [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-12-21  

I started coming here regularly in 2015 as I was young, hopeful, and utterly disgusted with the Trump campaign. I wanted to learn how to better talk about progressive politics and in general just find a place that felt sane. It’s never been perfect but I felt like I could consistently find educated discussions about things that really mattered.



I grew up in a very ignorant family and in a rural community which had no diversity. I certainly did not fit in well to either. I was named after my ancestor Robert E. Lee but by my preteen years was outspoken about the racism and homophobia in family. This was not received well in my supremacist family and I ended up leaving home after my first year commercial fishing in Alaska- I was 16.



I’ve had a life with up and downs since. My therapists over the years have told me I have a “trauma drive” and seek it out. At different points in my life dedicated myself to helping the homeless, protecting sex workers, been a first responder, organ/tissue donation, and after burning out in each of those areas I currently privately train and rehab dogs- specializing in powerful dogs with bite histories that would otherwise be put down.



I have had a personal connection with Palestine since college. Through volunteering with refugees I made some good friends and a couple years ago was best man at a Palestinian wedding. One of the greatest honors of my life.



It’s my education and life experience which informs my politics, and as I’ve evolved, particularly over the last few years, the less I feel like I belong here. I always thought progressive meant wanting to do better and changing the things that were wrong the world. It has become frustratingly clear to me that for too many here and in the democratic party it is more important to preserve power structures and continue on with the status quo. It is more important to be anti-republican for a lot of you than fairly criticizing the ways that the current administration and our government systems as a whole, do things.



It’s time for me to move on. I think I’m gonna start considering and calling myself a matriarchal anarchist. Focus on being apolitical and try to build a community that is ungovernable. I don’t want to participate in this system that only empowers old white men to continue to rape the earth, to make and sell weapons.



I want to thank the site as a whole for the discussion and the ways that it has educated me over the years. But I also want to send the message that I think you need to evolve. At least if you want to be a viable place for many young millennials and Gen z-ers that think like me. Stop being pro cop. Stop being pro war. Stop being pro fossil fuel industry. Stop rationalizing income inequality. These things are not helping society and prevent the possibility of a sustainable future.



Peace ✌️

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