I will not be silenced
Earlier this week,I shared photos created by a student artist with the demeaning words of PEOTUS painted on women’s bodies. The photos had been shared widely via BuzzFeed and Huffington Post articles. I shared the actual photos on FaceBook. The sharing of a woman’s body- including one of her nipple- does not meet the community standards set by the social media platform. I was suspended for 24 hrs.
Today I logged into to Facebook to find that I am suspended yet again, because of the caption associated with the pictures. I honestly don’t remember what I said and I did not capture it before it disappeared.
I do know this, I have said way fucking worse
I use Facebook to talk about the oppression of black folks. I use it to highlight the hypocrisy of race, class and gender in this country. I use it to beat down patriarchy and to uplift women. I could use it to share cat videos or talk about what I ate last night for dinner but I don’t. I have a very special use for this platform. It’s to educate and to amplify important but difficult subjects.
So to whomever you are that keeps reporting me, I will not be silenced.
You want me to stop talking about race and oppression- ain’t gonna happen.
You don’t like what I say? I do not care.
Until black folks are free and y’all stop killing my people I will show up every day.
Every.
Damn.
Day.
I hurt your feelings? You do not like the language I use? You find me offensive? Good, because I find lots of shit about how we treat folks in this country offensive. I find poverty, sexism, racism, homophobia, ableism and patriarchy offensive.
Your emotional comfort will never be more important than the liberation of marginalized people in this country.
Not today.
Not tomorrow
Not ever
We had better learn to recognize, name, and call out oppression whenever we see it because, trust and believe that over the next four years, we will see more of it.
We had better learn to engage with folks that do not look like or think like us instead of trying ignore, wish or anonymously report them away.
Our fragility is killing us.
Just like our secrets and our pain. We can have no reconciliation without truth. We can have no reconciliation until we acknowledge and shed light on all the myths and fallacies that we continue to promote about who we are in this country and how we treat one another.
Being suspended from Facebook does not hurt me, it just affirms that my work must continue.
