I keep thinking about the children who left school in Ferguson, slept in a shopping plaza parking lot, because they believed in justice. They asked y’all to join them in the streets. You didn’t come.
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As an organizer, I know that we did our best. We fought w/out sleep. Without food. W/no money. There were so few people coming in droves to protests. There were so few celebrities flying in to St. Louis, Baltimore, Atlanta, etc. So few elders willing to lay in the streets w/us.
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I remember elders from NAACP, NAN, etc who would go on NATIONAL television, chide us, & tell us to go home. In ATL, we asked for several meetings. In one, they didn’t show up but instead held a counter meeting w/the press. In another, they came, told us to “respect law” & left.
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& I understand the rules. I know that this is a manifestation of anti-Blackness. I know. But what I want to say is this: young Black folks were ready to wage a nuanced, intersectional, anti-settler/anti-capitalist war against this violent institution. & y’all told us to go home.
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These calls for us to “ACT NOW!” are painful as fuck. Celebrities, like my love
@IndyaMoore &@pronounced_ing, questioning why aren’t we fighting back, *now*? My god, it feels so neglectful. 1) who is the “we”? 2) why is it so critical now, in a way it was not in 2014/15?Prikaži ovu nit -
Of course stand w/the people of Hawaii. Of course follow the leadership of folks in Puerto Rico. Hell yea, return the got damn land. AND: i cannot divorce this from my own exhaustion. I cannot remove the labor that navigating anti-Blackness requires me. Beloved, I am so tired.
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Amat e this is y’all’s moment. Maybe this is an entry point to the movement? If so, I’m thankful. I’m grateful that y’all are here. Welcome. & I guess I’m examining *why* this “now” is more important, more primed, more attractive than Ferguson’s “now”. Than Sandra Blands.
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The descendants of enslaved African people have been forced to make a home here on stolen land, understand settler colonialism. We understand the hyper surveillance and militarization of rogue governments. We wanted to have these convos, across marginalized folk, in the streets.
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I even remember a caravan of racial justice organizers heading to Standing Rock, to do this. The elders told us not to play our “ghetto” music, to pull our pants up, and ultimately, to go home. Is a Black body so dehumanized that you see us neither in death nor in war? Honestly.
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& legit, some of us are dead. Activists who were involved in racial justice work have been killed by police, or otherwise found dead. Like, folks I’ve stood alongside. Folks who kept my folks alive. Folks who mattered. Your “Now’s The Time!” is late, friend.
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Here’s what I know: 1) White supremacy cannot thrive w/out anti-Blackness. 2) Anti Settler-colonialist movements must center ALL its victims. Indigenous folk. Folks native to each of the island territories. Children of the diaspora, who can be found on the mainland & beyond.
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3) These movements can not be radical, cannot be revolutionary if they are not intersectional. Meaning, if you believe in a free Puerto Rico & a living
#hawaii, you believe in reparations and that the descendants of enslaved Africans be seen in the fullness of our humanity, too.Prikaži ovu nit -
How does this impact your stances against our corrupt government? How does this inform your participation in resistive strategy? Do you consider the affect your actions/inactions have on the lives of Black children? Black birthing folk? Black folks surviving state terrorism?
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Your participation in a movement— whether you’re a non-Black person of color, whether you’re the child of immigrants, or moving w/out barrier in white spaces—
affects
Black People
Your choice to “stand up!” could very well be upon our necks, if you ain’t being intentional.Prikaži ovu nit -
It’s not too late! We are not an extinct people! It is still a perfect time to include a racial justice lens in everything that you do. It’s critical.https://twitter.com/shrimpwonder/status/1153821202168684544?s=21 …
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I also keep thinking about the “we” implied in these responses... ““We” need to fight back!” Or “”We” can’t let this happen!” It’s telling. You either do not take issue with Black folks facing state terrorism, or you do not see our freedom tied to your own. Both are insidious.
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It’s time to consider how you’ve left racial justice (RJ) out of your political praxis. What have you neglected in your own justice work as it relates to Black folk? More critically, where are the bridges in your work, to RJ? Find them. Build them. & Report back, bc I’m curious.
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Okay that’s it, that’s the rant. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about this soon. Right now I’d love to hear from you.
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SN: Lemme add that I know many PR folks are children of the diaspora... *AND* the reason white/non-black Latinx/indigenous folk feel a kindred “we”-ship w/PR & Hawaiian protestors, is bc they are phenotypically otherized ways that are anti-Black. That’s a whole other rant tho.
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I hear questions from PR activist siblings and folk in Hawai’i about next steps. It’s so imperative that we are talking, building, and fighting in tandem. That my battle and yours (which, let’s be honest, are already related) are fought together, and treated equitably.
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Full transparency, I’m not on the ground organizing right now, but I am returning. Pls continue to pray and cover all our folks on the ground! On the mainland, on La Isla, and in Hawai’i https://twitter.com/riceandbrie/status/1153839902695415808?s=21 …
Tweet je nedostupan.Prikaži ovu nit -
I think it’s an incredibly racist assertion that BLM is “urban”. I don’t even know what that means.https://twitter.com/anodyne2art/status/1154044464706420737?s=21 …
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