I spend most of my classes hearing others talk about the current day and age. And without missing a beat, almost always, a political statement is prefaced with ‘not to be political.’ And while in part, this may be because of institutional pressure to continue with a specific narrative, I find myself perplexed by the statement. Not to be political. Well, then you know what you are about to say holds some type of political weight. And yet we all shy away from this idea. And more and more I find myself annoyed with the statement. If you’re going to say something, say it! But then I think a bit deeper, and I understand how the current (and not so current) political climate has made people apprehensive to state facts that have become politicized. But as we venture further into this reality we find ourselves in, I don’t accept the statement not to be political. 

For one, as a woman, my existence has become political. No longer are my reproductive choices, my voice, or my rights solely my own.  But as a white woman, I understand that I am also granted privilege within this world. So, when I hear others say not to be political, it is hard for me to understand as I know I am one of half the world’s population whose humanity has become politicized on the sole reason of my gender, let alone any other reason those within the world find their existence at the core of politics. I don’t want to hear in my writing intensive class on dystopian futures, a political genre at its core, not to be political. Because if this deeper understanding of what is political versus what is propaganda is not dismantled within our education system, we cannot fight through these times. Times in which everything is political, we should not be scared to counter this narrative. Health care should not be debatable. The right to a meal should not be able to be voted away. And a person’s identity should not factor into their right to be humanly treated. Not to be political.