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The Life-Changing Act of Calling Myself Out
I am tired of sugar-coating things. I am tired of tip-toeing with my wording as not to offend oppressors. So I don’t.
I openly call people racist, homophobic, transphobic, or anything else I notice. But I don’t do it to be mean. I do it because the only way we can change these systems and the way they impact our daily lives is by calling microaggressions what they are.
I call myself racist, regularly. I call myself ableist regularly, and I am disabled.
The only way we change is by calling things what they are. The more we call ourselves on it, the more apt we are to change our behavior. If someone calls you out on your words or actions, take a really hard look at what happened and how you can do better in the future. If you need help figuring it out, you can ask someone but if you ask a marginalized person, please compensate them for the emotional labor that went into helping you.
Call yourself on your bias regularly. That is one of the biggest catalysts for change.
A Letter to “Missionaries”
They say all these wars
Are over religion; blasphemous.
They are Trojan horses
For white supremacists,
Claiming they’re wounded,
Or worse, persecuted,
But how are they being oppressed
When they’re the ones with guns
Firmly pressed against our foreheads?
This was never about religion.
That’s just the easiest vehicle to disguise
Ethnic cleansing and colonialism.
