Stop Taking Pictures with Your Enemy

Why would I take a smiling picture with someone who means my community harm?

Why would I stand shoulder to shoulder, grin wide for the camera, and post it proudly next to someone whose words, actions, and decisions actively work against the well-being of my people?

A picture is never just a picture.

In this era, images move faster than truth. A photo signals alignment. It creates perception. It becomes a receipt. Long after your explanation fades, that image remains cropped, reposted, and remembered.

When you smile next to someone who actively undermines your community, you normalize them. You soften their record. You help rehabilitate their image. And you confuse the very people who trusted you to stand firm.

Now, let’s define something clearly: when I say “enemy,” I am not talking about someone who simply disagrees with you. Disagreement is part of democracy. Debate is healthy. Policy differences are normal.

An enemy, in this context, is someone whose actions consistently harm your community. Someone who pushes rhetoric that dehumanizes. Someone who supports policies that strip rights, weaken protections, suppress voices, or target vulnerable people. Someone who has shown through pattern, not rumor, that your progress threatens their agenda.

That is not disagreement. That is harm.

And leadership requires discernment.

Some will say, “I didn’t know they were my enemy.”

But ignorance is not leadership. Due diligence is part of the assignment. Before you align publicly, you research. Before you lend your image, you understand someone’s record. Before you legitimize, you verify.

If you don’t know enough about someone to assess whether they’ve harmed your community, you don’t know enough to take a public picture with them.

“I didn’t know” might work in private life. It does not work in public leadership.

Now let’s also be fair. Growth is real. People can change. If someone has acknowledged harm, corrected course, and demonstrated through action, not just words, that they’ve evolved, that is different. Accountability opens doors. Transformation deserves recognition.

But unrepentant harm does not deserve your smile.

There is also a difference between negotiation and normalization.

Politics and leadership in general requires sitting across from people you disagree with. It requires strategy. It requires tough conversations. You may have to meet. You may have to negotiate. You may have to coexist in shared spaces.

But a closed-door conversation is strategy.

A public photo op is symbolism.

And symbolism matters.

Young leaders especially fall into the networking trap. You’re told proximity equals power. You’re told not to burn bridges. You’re told to get in every room and take every picture.

But access without boundaries erodes integrity.

If your relevance depends on a photo, you may not have relevance.

If your brand requires proximity to someone who harms your people in order to look influential, you are not building power; you are borrowing visibility.

And your community sees it.

When your constituents scroll past that image, what do they feel? Pride or betrayal? Confidence or confusion?

Trust is fragile. And optics either strengthen it or weaken it.

History teaches us that movements advance when leaders draw lines, not when they blur them. Not every invitation deserves acceptance. Not every table deserves your presence.

Yes, God will prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. But they don’t have to be present for the picture.

The enemy can see from a distance the hand of God in and on your life.

You do not need proximity to prove favor. You do not need a photo to validate your purpose. If God prepared the table, your enemies will know it without you posting it.

Leadership is not about curated images. It is about disciplined alignment. It is about understanding that every public association communicates something, whether you intended it to or not.

Ask yourself:

What message does this photo send?
Who benefits from this image?
Who is harmed by this normalization?
Are you building bridges or building your résumé?
Is your ambition louder than your allegiance?

If someone is actively working against the dignity, rights, and advancement of your community, proximity is not diplomacy; it is complicity.

You can negotiate without posing.
You can engage without endorsing.
You can be strategic without being symbolic cover.

Every handshake does not require a headline.
Every meeting does not require a selfie.
Every enemy does not deserve your smile.

Stop taking pictures with your enemy.

Let your integrity be clear enough that it cannot be cropped out of the frame. Let your leadership be disciplined enough that your values are never blurred for clout.

And let your enemies watch from a distance as the hand of God moves in your life; no caption required.