this photo is a picture of [a campus building]. Those who were present will recognize the area as the location of the anti-genocide Divest encampment. University called numerous police departments to violently sweep this encampment when it attempted to expand to the physical sciences lecture hall. 

Most of the rhetoric from University Admin pertaining to the encampment paints it as a violent and hostile space making people unsafe on campus. In truth, the encampment was a community space that attempted to liberate us from an oppressive and restrictive status quo. It was a safe space that was open and accepting to everyone united under its points of unity. In the encampment, everyone was equal, and existing structures of power and privileged were nearly abolished. The encampment was the first space on campus I truly felt comfortable living as myself. Within the encampment I felt safe introducing myself with my preferred pronouns for the first time. There was no threat of being ejected from the shared space if I was unpalatable to someone in power. There wasn't a single day the encampment stood that I went hungry or lonely.

We so often think of extremism as departures from the status quo, but its rare that we acknowledge how extreme of a world we live in. Any status quo where existing power structures support the marginalization, oppression, and killing of any people is an extreme one.  Any departure from this extreme status quo must be equally extreme. The university utilized an institutionalized and normalized form of violence, but its actions were no less extreme than the actions of the protesters. When they swept the encampment, the university *was* engaging in extremism, and we must learn to recognize that. 

The biggest barrier to Queer POC joy is those in power who will not accept a system that challenges their own.