Scary thoughts
US torture of Iraqi prisoners. The US government is an endless font of outrageous behavior. Those pictures have been haunting me. My co-worker's response, "well, that's soldiers acting like...soldiers." He's right. But I've been trying to name why those images feel so personal and threatening to me. I realized it's because what's captured there is the essence of my queer woman of color nightmare. The physical violence coupled with sexual humiliation while isolated from any community--all at the hands of a band of white militia-soldiers. One politician likened the behavior to "frat hazing." As if that made it OK. Frat boys are part of my nightmare scenario too. It's one of those many moments when I realize how different my sense of belonging and safety is as a queer POC.
On a lighter note, many thanks to the folks who've emailed with nice things to say about the blog. I'm glad you like it and hope you'll keep visiting. And don't be shy about the commenting function.