#GetBayanaADragon2K15

So if you follow me on Twitter, you’ve noticed that every once in a while I use the hashtag #GetBayanaADragon2K15 along with some tweet about how I really want a dragon and how someone should get me one. Mostly, it’s so that I can raise a dragon and then fly around like the black version of Daenerys Targaryen or something. And while that seems like something silly and like I’m really just trolling people, there is some seriousness in my use of this hashtag.

If you hadn’t noticed, there is a lot of tragedy happening around the world, though for me the one closest to home—for obvious reasons—is the fight here at home against police brutality. Now of course police brutality is not the only issue facing people of African descent in the United States; there are a myriad of issues from poverty to education, all which trace their lineage back to White Supremacy. The ultimate villain.

Now, people process things in different ways when tragedy strikes or when you are a part of a community that faces unfathomable oppression and has been for hundreds of years. Some people take to the streets, others create organizations to support their communities. Some people close themselves off and become numb to the issues, while others rush to self-blame. I wish for dragons.

Sometimes I wish for a spaceship that will take a colony of black people off of the planet for us to go to some TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY uninhabited planet that we can live on and be in peace, while at the same time not colonizing another people or in anyway replicate the oppressive structures here on Earth. This is usually my go to, but lately I’ve been wishing for a dragon more often than not.

Growing up, I’ve always felt most at home in science fiction stories. While I mostly read Harry Potter because it is awesome, I also read it to escape from the problems I was facing. It was much easier to ignore my shyness and social anxieties when I knew I could just open up a book and jump into an adventure with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. This has never really changed, though of course I’ve grown up. However, it’s still my default.

When I hear of tragedy striking, I automatically want to shut it out. I feel all the anger and pain and sadness, and then I decide that I would rather dwell in the Wizarding World or in Westeros, or on the Lost Moon of Poosh. Whenever things feel heavy or too much to bear, I thrust myself into my nerd world, mostly residing in my head and sometimes on Twitter and then I feel better. And so my desire for a dragon stems from a similar place.

Part of wanting a dragon is the possibility of escape, sure. When I got tired of this place, I could hop on it’s back and fly away and find some deserted island in the middle of the ocean or something. On second thought, if I had a space dragon then I could fly to the moon or something and…okay that’s probably too much.

Wanting a dragon also stems from its danger, primarily its fire-breathing abilities. If I wanted, I could theoretically set all of White Supremacy on fire and then we’d all be better off for it. I wouldn’t want to be held up in a group of people being called “Mother” like in that awful Game of Thrones scene afterwards. I’d mostly just want to be left alone, but it would be especially satisfying to quite literally burn it all to the ground if I could.

While honestly this campaign stems from the silly nerd in me, it also stems from a real feeling I tend to have when faced with the overarching institutional structure that is White Supremacy. So I do seriously want a dragon, as much as Robyn may make fun of me for it. #GetBayanaADragon2K15 #FlameWhiteSupremacy