Nicole J. Butler
Aug 24, 2017 · 2 min read

Reasons Why They Hate You:

Because your skin is the wrong damned shade.

Because your body is not what they ordered.

Because you dare laugh when they are busy being angry.

Because you are not downtrodden enough to fit their narrative.

Because you refuse to be “less than” when they think you should.

Because your subjugation was their intent, but your spirit had other plans.

Because your hair doesn’t look like the girl’s on the magazine, but you flex with aplomb.

Because you were never meant to be free, and, well, here your ass is — all free and shit.

Because you are flyer than they are and they can’t take it.

Because you don’t let them use that word.

Because they buried people like you, and you had the nerve to bloom.

Because you were never supposed to learn to read or write but you did, and now you are spreading your own version of events.

Because how dare you use big words that they don’t understand?

Because you just won’t shut up about equality.

Because your nose reminds them of the sphinxes that they desecrated.

Because you have zero respect for unearned privilege and unqualified “authority.”

Because they told you that you were ordinary, and you’re out here being magic.

Because you gleaned truths of which you were never the intended recipient:

despite the traps that were set for you,

despite the duplicity spoonfed to you as part of your daily diet of indoctrination,

despite the IV drip of vitriol designed to poison your entire system,

despite the images that sought to negate your self-worth,

you know the truth,

and you will not fucking go away.

Nicole J. Butler

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Nicole J. Butler

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LA Actress & Purveyor of other Fine Arts. I'll tell you when the emperor is naked. Chicago-raised, Iowa-educated, LA-schooled.