The Power of the Watch
The Power of the Watch: Why We Won't Be Their Target
There is a specific kind of strength in watching.
Right now, across Georgia and the country, the air feels different. We are seeing a mandate that feels like an invitation to target the very people who built this state. We hear the rhetoric about "getting rid of" us, and we see the way hate has consumed the common sense of our neighbors. It is heartbreaking to realize that so many felt their vote was a green light to attack others.
The instinct—the one that keeps you up at night—is to run into the streets. To scream back. To meet that fire with an equal flame. But we have to be smarter than our anger.
The Trap of the Target
We have to understand the strategy being used against us. They want a spectacle. They want a reason to point the finger and say, "See? This is why we need to be 'tougher'." * Protest without a plan is just a target. If we rush out in pure reactivity, we give them exactly what they want: a way to justify more hate.
Watching is not waiting. Just because we aren't fueling the fire doesn't mean we aren't working. We are documenting, we are organizing, and we are protecting each other in the shadows where they can't see us coming.
Their vote was an attack; our response is an evolution. We cannot change the fact that people voted for exclusion. But we can change how much power that vote has over our internal peace and our community's safety.
Pouring on the "Heavy" Love
At Black Lives Matter Georgia, "pouring on love" right now means Fortifying the Home Front. * It means checking on your neighbors when the news gets bad.
It means investing in our own schools, businesses, and legal protections.
It means being the "Cool Head" (as we talked about yesterday) so we can see the chess board clearly while they are just playing with fire.
We Refuse to Burn Out
Hate is a flash in the pan. It’s a loud, destructive burst. But Love—the heavy, stubborn kind—is a marathon. We are watching because we are the stewards of what comes after the fire burns out.
If you feel the urge to lash out today, take that energy and pour it back into your community. Help a brother. Support a sister. Protect a child's joy. Don't give the world the "angry" image it’s begging for. Give them the one thing they fear more: A community that cannot be provoked into destroying itself.