Shaun KingVerified account

But were you there when Shaun was conceived? Were you there when he had tobacco spit thrown in his face by rednecks or was chased home and called "nigger" by a pickup truck full of bigots? Were you there when he took that ass whooping from a white mob when he just a boy?

I’ve had folx tell me I just need to grow thick skin. It’s been five years of this bullshit, and I don’t think my skin can grow any thicker. I’m in counseling. My kids are in counseling. Other activists are literally killing themselves over this stuff.

WE ARE PEOPLE. And words have power. You can’t just say horrible things about someone and expect it to mean nothing. You can’t launch entire smear campaigns and expect it not resonate in their actual lives.

Or maybe that’s your goal. You want my children to be asked about it at school. You hope to ruin my career. You aim to destroy my marriage. In your “service” of Black people, @DeRay, you hope to spread enough lies and float enough inuendo to directly harm this Black woman??

Your goal on Thursday @DeRay was to center yourself and push another Black woman out of the spotlight in service of your own personal vendetta. Rihanna earned and deserved that night to highlight her good work. But you made it about you.

You showed your true colors when you got so in your head about Shaun, that you stole an important moment from a worthy Black woman. What you did on Thursday was not righteous @DeRay. It was selfish.

. @Deray. You and @Nettaaaaaaaa threw another Black woman, @TamikaDMallory, under the bus for her honest work in gathering countless statements from families that Shaun helped. All this talk about protecting Black women and Shaun doing harm to Black women. Hypocrites!

The good news is that Shaun will continue this work until the day he dies. God literally wired him to do nothing else. He’s been grinding on behalf of others since the day I met him as a 15 year old girl in church. This is who he will always be.

Part of the reason there is so much to say about Shaun is that he’s been failing forward for a long time. He’s no johnny come lately. He’s BEEN helping people in need for over 20 years. And here's the thing...

Shaun's been doing this. And every time you come for him, Twitter might help you trend, but when the dust settles, it’ll ALWAYS be clear who did the work and who just talked about the people who did the work.

I am going back to my life as a mom and wife who works quietly behind the scenes to move the needle on race equity. Haters will never tire of making new claims & accusations. I can't control that. They can decide what the best use of their time is, but I don't have the time.