I want to be happy here.
But my Black friends keep getting banned for doing justice work.
Or just... Existing.
At a much quieter volume than I do.
If people didn’t know me or who I’m connected to, would I be gone by now too? 😔
How do you exist in a world where your cultural norm is frowned upon?
Why do I always have to compromise with the oppression dynamic
or get removed? 😭
It’s painful.
And there’s no reason to it.
And all the “solutions” include bowing to that same dynamic.
Leaving isn’t your defeat.
It’s to the shame of the space that refuses to recognize they have blocked your equity.
But it still building the road that leads back to the opening of fascism.
That should worry people. Because again it’s not just the red hats and the cross burners.
It’s liberal spaces that cannot bear critique & disguise the rejection as rule breaking, thus the fault of the justice worker.
Staying isn’t a victory.
Because you’re not free.
You’re perpetuating the illusion of freedom, in the hopes that your presence and conduct as a leader shields others.
Which partially works - not well enough apparently - and also plays into respectability politics - oppression in fancy clothes.
Because again, people whose voices are gentler than mine,
some who agreed to stay behind CW or move to “better” instances?
Still got suspended.
TWO this weekend.
I’m not going to list names. That just sends them more abuse.
I’ve been doing this work 30 years. I know when I’m being put on a merry-go-round.
So just please remember all parties need a certain amount of privilege for name & shame to work.
The fact that it happened means I don't have enough to cover them.
If they have enough they'd still be here.
The most frustrating thing is going to be
when the voices that have been silenced in this space
are needed inALL spaces to rescue us from fascism
yet again.
They will appear when called and do their duty.
Because THEY know what most don’t.
We need them.
Because they serve The World, not just other Black women.
Securing our rights secures everyone higher in the caste or intersected.
We need the voices from the Black community that are also the most shunned.
The world treats us so horribly but also can’t exist without us.
And by the time it is realized in the macro, it is ALWAYS too late in the micro.
Notes: I don't know why an image that only says #BlackLivesMatters is marked as sensitive media when hashtags like #/BlackLivesStillDontMatter are not.
Also I only marked the rest of the thread with CW so I would not be overwhelming the stream.
#BlackMastodon I see you. I am just thinking and exhausted.
Tinu - Empress of Twerk
Jon (now at neuromatch.social)