It Is Okay to Be Angry
The recent shootings in El Paso (Texas, USA) were outrageous. The direction from Lorenzo Garcia (the International Liberation Reference Person for Chicanos/as) to work on our feelings of outrage, grief, and fear is important. And as someone whose people have been colonised, I am reminded of how difficult that work can feel.
Over time I have felt a weariness from the oppression, a feeling of “here we go again,” that makes it difficult to remember to take the feelings to sessions. It seems easier to go numb and not look at each instance of the oppression.
Behind this there is also a confusion about whether I have the right to be outraged. All the feelings of worthlessness and insignificance make it hard to remember that what happened was actually an outrage and that it’s okay to be furious about it.
And then there are feelings of not wanting to upset the people in the oppressor group, especially the ones who are trying to be allies. Sometimes these feelings come out of feelings of worthlessness, and sometimes out of a fear of making things worse. The oppression has taught us to not expect to win, to not expect our allies to work on their oppressor distress, to not take on [undertake] the work of ending the oppression.
For me, feelings of powerlessness come up when I hear members of the oppressor group speak about my group with great confidence and certainty that what they are saying is the only position to take. I can’t find the words to answer what they are saying.
Sometimes it is easier to work on the grief about the oppression than to look at my anger about it. Looking at the history of it sometimes feels too hard. Maybe we deserved it. Maybe we were too stupid. Maybe we’re exaggerating how bad it was. Maybe the things they said about us are true.
It’s important to recognise that all these reactions are part of the internalised oppression and to decide not to act on them.
What was done was outrageous. It is okay to be angry about it. It is okay to feel righteous indignation. It is okay to make demands on oppressor groups. It is okay to expect them to do the work at their end.
Stillorgan, County Dublin, Ireland
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion
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