for posting about Klansmen.

I live in Arizona. Immigration is a grand problem here, but that doesn’t scare me.

The amount of Klansmen here do.

The Neo-Nazis in Arizona do.

Both groups showed up when I marched against the SB 1070 in May. The SB 1070 law allowed the arrest of anyone who “looked suspicious”. I was scared; I’m still scared.

My mother did a really proactive activism page called the New Whig Party. The message was to spread awareness about racial profiling. Her way of doing this was putting a blond wig on with signs that said “DO I LOOK SUSPICIOUS”. She held a poster that had a blond wig on it and a lot of people took pictures of it.

She got death threats, and I was terrified.

Photos of our family float around the internet because of our entire family—me, my grandparents, my aunt and uncles, my aunt’s family, and my great aunt and cousins—participating in this. I was 12, but my mom made sure me and my sister understood what we were standing for, and her fearlessness continues to inspire me.

What I’m saying is this:

Ferguson, you are not alone. You will never be alone. But /be careful/. Never protest alone, always make sure you have a buddy system.

The Neo-Nazi party and the Ku Klux Klan are still flourishing and they are still committing acts of racial violence. The only threatened my mom and my family, but we were lucky.

My mom was smart, and always made sure I was never out of her sight.

And never ever leave your partner.
Keep each other safe, and always have an emergency spot to meet up if you are ever separated.
Keep you cell phones on. Keep them charged.