I STOPPED PLACATING MY POSTS WITH SMILEY FACES :-)

I stopped using those smiley faces 🙂about four years ago.

While I thought that they added a certain nuanced humor, a friend convinced me that it was my way of softening the blow of my words. Placating.

And it only took her four tries. The first three I pooh, poohed her off, but by the fourth, it was like I saw these smiley faces EVERYWHERE in my memory feed!

Besides me of course, who loves you this much?

Comments

When white folk dump, we can’t get Angry about it

I got angry over a white (almost white) person saying that I’m overreacting. Immediately afterwards, I berated myself, thinking that I should’ve held my cool. But just as we laud those black heroes who articulate the pain rather than express it, we condemn ourselves for feeling what is normal to feel. Part of colonization says that I have no right to be angry and that my anger is naturally perceived as a threat so it’s in my best interest to hold my tongue. This is not normal. We must break the economic, physical, emotional and spiritual consequences to be true human beings. Otherwise we’re just lying to ourselves. “How dare they get angry over our oppression of them!”

Rigged Legal System

Search words: Rigged Legal System, Gauntlet of oppression, racial profiling throughout Years ago on jury duty, I was asked to render a ‘fair and impartial’ judgement regarding a young Black man accused of possession on the Upper East Side. There were only two Black people on the jury, myself and another dude. After a very long time, we ended up finding the defendant guilty. That’s the end of the story but not the narrative. The twelve main things I came to realize: 1. Several Black potential jurors were citing a mantra about their unwillingness to participate in a prejudiced judicial system. It was my first time hearing it but should I be called again, I’ll google it and voice my objection in the same way. 2. The suspect was stopped for a broken taillight, but as his wife said when she examined their car at the station, the light was never broken. 3. The white judge, however, ruled that the bust was still legit even though he was clearly stopped for drivin...

ON REPARATIONS

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Black Belt Commonsense

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