For all who’ve been told “you don’t belong.” In a thousand different ways, by a thousand different voices, for a thousand different reasons…
The hijabi girl shunned by her playmates on the schoolyard.
The person shadowed in the store for the color of their skin.
The person whose faith is unwelcome in their place of work or study.
The child exiled by their family for their orientation or gender identity.
For all those who’ve been told they can’t belong until they look a certain way, earn a certain amount, speak a certain language, or fit a certain cultural norm.
You belong.
Not in the name of “tolerance” or easy inclusivity. But in the name of something bigger.
We need you. We are not whole without you. Yes, you.
If you’re reading this, we mean you.
We belong to each other.
What do we do when some of the loudest voices insist that some of us don’t belong?
We believe the best way to call out something bad is to live out something better.
Not by firing off another tweet. Not with yet another hot take.
It’s by choosing to love anyway, with the people standing right in front of us.
The best answer to “you don’t belong” is to build a bigger table where everyone does belong.
And where, above all, we say it over and over to each other: You belong, exactly as you are. We are not whole without you.
Not just with our words, but with our actions. By choosing to live like we belong to each other, every day.
We want to go with you. We want to dream with you, to learn from you. We want to wage peace with you, shoulder to shoulder. Join us.
