I believe it is impor­tant for activists to be dis­ci­plined in our dis­cus­sions about social issues. We need to speak to allies and poten­tial allies in a way that edu­cates, sup­ports, ral­lies and sus­tains peo­ple rather than vent­ing at peo­ple of pow­er. This is not a moral issue, but one of prac­ti­cal strate­gic sense. We need to keep build­ing. How­ev­er, we must ques­tion the source of this cur­rent push to empha­size civil­i­ty, an inces­sant point­ing the fin­ger of con­dem­na­tion at the enraged expres­sions of oppressed peo­ple. It puts the onus of “civil­i­ty” on peo­ple who do not call the shots, rather than on the those who do. Hmm. A misdirect?