Recently, I’ve come across several posts on Facebook that are meant to support one cause by demeaning the way we treat another, i.e. saying that we should worry about homeless veterans before helping refugees. There are some that are complaining that we need more racial representation in the media before we worry about having representation for those on the MOGAI/LGBTQ+ spectrums. These are all tactics used to further divide and distract each other, and, furthermore, when we have these responses to issues we take away from the fact that we are wholly capable of caring about more than just one social justice issue at a time.

Let me preface this next paragraph by saying that I am aware there are certain issues in our society that become more pressing depending on the circumstances. Over the last two years I have been increasingly more aware of the problems facing the black community and therefore, it is something I wish would be dealt with a lot sooner rather than later- after all, the black community has been waiting for actual equality for a damn long time now and we, as white allies, should actively be trying to create a society in which that is possible. All of that being said, I think it is time to understand that while, yes, certain issues have been around longer and need more immediate attention, that never means the other issues deserve less attention or should be pushed to the side until the first ones are properly handled. If we did that, women would not have the right to vote in the U.S. because we would all still be working on racial equality and probably would be for at least another century or so (also note that a recent article has stated that true equality for women won’t take place for another 118 years).

With respect to the issues facing each and every one of us, we can still care about the ones not affecting us. I don’t need to see memes floating around that tell us we should eradicate veteran homelessness before taking in refugees or stop calling Serena Williams “manly” before we acknowledge Caitlyn Jenner’s gender identity. We shouldn’t have to set aside the reality of one issue to deal with another. We have enough brain capacity and compassion to be able to think about, discuss, and care about both. Instead of trying to turn social justice into some convoluted and ridiculous pissing contest, we should all be fighting for each other. There is no reason we can’t fight racism, sexism, and transphobia at the same time because black trans* women are disproportionately sexually harassed and murdered. We shouldn’t have to stop caring about refugees fleeing war-torn countries with children and having nowhere else to turn until all homeless veterans are given somewhere to live (this should also make us consider the fact that these people aren’t fighting to house all homeless individuals-just the ones they deem worthy).

At the end of the day, society is better than this attitude. Chances are that none of us are perfect, so it's okay to make mistakes when advocating for a vulnerable or oppressed population. In acknowledging that, though, we should all make it our aims to be better in communicating our ideas and making sure that no micro-aggressions exist in our rhetoric. It is only through trying to make ourselves better that we can contribute to the betterment of society, and so we should all try to make the necessary changes to become the types of leaders that we, ourselves, want to see.