“In This House, We Believe” In Virtue-Signaling
If you live in any large city in a blue state, you have probably seen this sign poking out of people’s lawns. Rainbow text on a black background shouts a few core social justice values: “In This House We Believe: Black Lives Matter. Women’s Rights are Human Rights. No Human is Illegal. Science is Real. Love is Love. Kindness is Everything.” When the graphic began popping up in 2016 after Trump’s election, many liberals and progressives saw it as their mantra, a pledge to the world that they will not stand for the bigotry the new administration represented. Trump’s promises to build the border wall and prevent immigration from Muslim-majority countries felt fiercely wrong to many, and what better way to stick it to the president than to put a small sign in the yard of your home?
Too young by one year to vote in 2016, I felt somewhat relieved by this sentiment going viral. As a woman of color, I was distantly anxious about the unapologetic increase of blatant hate speech and white nationalism. The signs felt useful to me as a politically inexperienced teenager who was easily influenced the flighty Millenials online who insisted that this was the beginning of an apocalypse.
As Trump’s presidency went on the yard signs began to ring hollow. By this time it was clear to many leftists that the social issues we face go much deeper than just the current administration. While liberals tweeted “#notmyAmerica” and tearfully reminisced on Obama’s presidency, we kept living and laboring in the same country we’ve always known, just with more social tension.
Today, two years into a polarizing pandemic with economic and environmental despair around every corner, the black and rainbow slogans no longer feel radical or even relevant. They have become the subject of memes from all across the political spectrum, from conservative makeovers to straightforward disses and leftist satire doused in absurdism. Regardless of the tone, the message is clear: these signs are nothing but a template for virtue-signaling.
Where did this come from?
The origin of the sign was good-intentioned, it seems, simply created for personal use by Wisconsin woman Kristin Garvey, which she made the day after Trump’s election. Garvey’s yard poster went viral after her neighbor Jennifer Rozen Heinz posted it online and later co-created the official graphic with artist Kristen Joiner. The trio sold signs in exchange for a $5 donation to the ACLU and eventually gave ownership of the design to the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health (Mashable).
What’s wrong with it?
On the surface, three women using a piece of paper to fund a nonprofit seems perfectly benign. However, most of the slogans on the sign are lifted from other activists, as the Mashable article confesses, and the impact this project has had on others is unclear at best and self-congratulatory at worst: “A more telling story, as far as Rosen Heinz is concerned, is that of an African immigrant UPS driver who saw the sign, wept, and asked if he could take a selfie with it.” I seriously doubt that this condescending fantasy ever happened and it’s extremely telling of what white liberals think of their own influence and what they consider allyship to be. Sara Finger, head of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health, boldly claims that the sign is “the heart of the progressive movement” and Mashable itself adds it’s “a litmus test, in effect, for the entire political left”, a statement which lacks self-awareness or understanding of a large and varied community of activists.
Fundamentally, this summation of values is too vague to be meaningful. If we break down each statement, we find ourselves with feel-good words but no promises, demands, or resources. While debatably one of the largest social movements in the history of the United States, Black Lives Matter remains a decentralized and untrademarked coalition. The movement showed its power to rally a staggering amount of protesters both in America and abroad, but because it is loosely defined as an organization and has no single list of specific demands, it is difficult to measure many achievements that have taken place since the protests of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Without disrespecting the victims of white supremacy and those who have/are nobly fighting against state violence, there is room to critique the phrase “Black Lives Matter”, especially when it is used by those who don’t really know what it means and “can refer to a Twitter hashtag, a slogan, a social movement, a political action committee, or a loose confederation of groups advocating for racial justice.”
Garvey, the sign’s creator, is also noted as saying that she put “Black Lives Matter” at the top of her design because that’s the statement she “knew the least about”. I appreciate that her original sign was just for personal use, but why make a visual display in front of your home if you don’t want anyone else to interact with it? And if showing off your values and later monetizing them, it’s disturbing that you couldn’t explain the specific goals of the movements you claim to follow. “Black Lives Matter” should hold weight and purpose behind it, a promise to uphold anti-racism in every way you can. When affluent households and businesses in gentrified neighborhoods post these words in their windows, it feels low-effort as if it’s some kind of get-out-of-jail-free card to use when confronted with uncomfortable political questions.
“Kindness is Everything” is another shallow but pretty-sounding slogan. Liberals tend to attribute all opposing ideas and policies to hatefulness, which is an oversimplification. It does ring true that many conservative figures are bold in their bigotry, some are even proud of it, but it is risky to think all they need is to learn how to love — it’s not a great tactic and feels incredibly patronizing if you’re trying to get someone to see an issue your way. Also worth mentioning is the potential hypocrisy here; those who preach incessantly about kindness are often the same people who berate baristas in their personal life or ignore homeless people when they say hello to you on the street. This phrase is just another way to seem involved but remain apolitical and avoid conflict.
Lastly, the design has nothing to say about class consciousness or worker protections. Identity politics take center stage when the real beast behind the curtain is the exploitation of the working class. It is unsurprising but still disappointing to see affluent people ignore critiques of capitalism in favor of uncomplicated “Love is Love”.
Overall, the signs are toothless and represent equally toothless individuals behind them. The statements assert that these people care about social justice and equity, yet homeowners do little besides driving the stake into the ground and tweeting about it. As this meme points out, most signs appear in wealthy neighborhoods with predominantly white homeowners, suggesting they were never truly on display for their minority neighbors in the first place. What use are they, if so? To make each other feel valid while they continue living their lives normally? If the goal was to show allyship to marginalized groups in their areas, folks would physically show up for protests, financially support minority-owned small businesses, suggest and vote on liberating policies, and overall use their privilege to uplift their neighbors and thrive together as a community. Activism cannot be bought. Solidarity doesn’t look like a cute graphic design.
“#Resist”
Since the 2017 Women’s March, there has been a sentiment popular with white feminists and middle-class liberals of “resisting”. This phrase can be found on bumper stickers, water bottles, and many, many, protest signs. According to knowyourmeme.com, “Welcome To The Resistance is a catchphrase said by Twitter users who identify with the #Resist movement against the Donald Trump administration…”
This has been parodied to death over the years, given that there is no actual resistance with no actual work to prevent conservative policies from being passed. “Resisting” has been seen to mean cosplaying political action by pretending you’re in some kind of underground society with grand plans and a team of assembled leaders, often comparing themselves to characters in popular action franchises like Star Wars or Harry Potter.
This “Geek’s Guide to Using Star Wars in the Resistance” is one example, encouraging sci-fi fans to make Princess Leia protest signs to inspire millions: “We live in a world in which fantasy is often more compelling for many people than reality. Therefore we should harness the imagery of fantasy and use it in reality… They will see how the struggles and conflicts of Star Wars are being played out before their eyes and they will be inspired to join the movement.” This is embarrassing for many reasons, most importantly the fact that white liberals feel the need to dress up their politics to make them interesting enough to participate in. It requires a certain level of privilege to think that all we need is to compare Trump to Darth Vader to get people on board with defending human rights or environmental protections.
Ultimately, the #Resist movement only consisted of “online activism, protests, and boycotts”, which mirrors the results of the yard signs. Those who participate in this performative behavior care much more about appearing like an activist than doing the work, so all of the deprecating memes are well-deserved.
