Fade into black, and other wishes

There is a point when we hope that hate and bigotry will fade to black, disappear, become something propping up the daisies. In seeking to wash away the stain of hate from public discourse we want to believe that our future selves will be more tolerant, a better version of who we wish to be. It is laudable, worthy, desirable, yet in reality despite all our attempts to push hate six feet under it still lingers in the shadows waiting for its moment in the sun.

It has been telling that over the last year accusations of hate and bigotry have been weaponised against marginalised voices, the language of liberation turned on those who have sought emancipation from past and present hate. This is not a new ploy of the oppressor, it is one that stretches back into recorded history, used whenever those without power seek a share of equity. Jewish and black emancipatory efforts were couched in the majority pushing back, something which Lunn Hunt outlines in Inventing Human Rights. No liberation movement has ever escaped the clutches of the reactionaries, and those who claim that trans folk are transing away the gay or that black folk are uppity for demanding equity show the pernicious influence reactionary politics has.

In Law’s Empire Ronald Dworkin talks about integrity being a crucial element in the upholding of rights, that it is personal integrity that prevents you…