[Ibby]

The way to peace and justice is not through kumbayas and trying to see the humanity of oppressors. The way to peace and justice is through a continuous fight - yes, fight - against all oppressors, and all instances of oppression, starting with one's self. By denying humanity and respect to others, you give up your own right to have respect.

Think about all the non-violent, peaceful social movements from your history textbooks. the leaders of those movements are assassinated anyway almost every time, and it is only through the contrast between them and the radical resistance that the oppressors were forced to acquiesce to as little as they could let go of. in fact, the leaders of moderate social movements are almost always oppressors themselves, willing to sell out other groups to help their own. Ghandi said that the jews should all LET the nazis kill them, because if they kill enough of you maybe they'll feel bad and stop (they won't).

I will never make peace with oppressors and other proponents of evil, and I will never agree with most of you about whether or not being a bigot tarnishes someone's entire personality permanently.

Trying to empathize with, understand, humanize your oppressors gets people killed. real actual people getting really actually killed as a result of these systems of oppression, every single day. people like me. So you can go on about trying to understand and humanize some of the worst perpetrators of oppression, but you will never convince me.