Providing Safe Space in the Face of Harassment

In last week’s sermon, I talked about wearing a safety pin to show support for people who feel vulnerable in these times. The safety pin is a symbol that was used first in occupied Netherlands during WWII, and has been adopted again to let people know that you will stand with them if they need you to.

Many people have asked, “But what can I do, if I see someone being targeted?” So here’s a quick guide on how to be an ally when there’s harassment going on. It was written specifically for harassment of Muslims, since hate crimes against Muslims have increased 67% since the election, but apply in any bullying or harassment situation:

If you would like to know more, here are two links that will take you to further information about how to be an ally:

This is a whole collection of links about managing uncomfortable situations, from the perspective of someone who wants to side with the frightened and keep things calm:
http://deescalationandintervention.weebly.com/resources.html

This one is written by Nicholas Kristof, and assumes the reader was opposed to Mr Trump’s election, but it’s really about how to be an advocate and an activist for what you believe in, no matter what your political leanings are:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/opinion/a-12-step-program-for-responding-to-president-elect-trump.html

I am so grateful to be in a place where people want to be active in helping to keep others safe, and have the wisdom to ask for more information when they don’t know what to do! I hope that none of us need to use these skills but I am glad you are willing to do the work of learning! If you’d like to set up an actual training program to practice, let me know!

Blessings, Pastor Kimberly

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