I am deeply disturbed and hurt by the rhetoric constantly thrown at me by elites when I talk abt prison abolition or decriminalizing addiction/drugs.The assumption that this is a pet project for me bc I read some white man& #39;s opinion really makes me want to scream from rooftops

Men who end up in gangs that fall into addiction can tell you about incarceration and addiction from a to z but do you know I knew what a piece kolhu, jalu phone & hakuru was at 8 yeard old. I saw my father being taken away, hands cuffed to his back after a drug bust in my house

I saw the cops breaking into my room and I saw the broken door long after the cops took him. I have been inside the room when cops threatened to break in, I have dad hide drugs frantically. I have also seen how cops search for drugs. Mulhi than e fuh mifushah jahaa

I have seen my dad packet drugs after cutting into pieces. I used to take some killi kothalhu to play from his stash. I learnt about Maldivian geography from his addict friends that was from all over the country. Some of them paid for our school uniform, other robbed us

Before jinaare ijuraa& #39;athuge gaanoonu, I witnessed violent arrests. Things ppl read in a report. I saw cops using force with a man that did not resist. So fuck your politics. This is personal. I didn& #39;t grow up on the streets. My home was the street that sheltered the vagabonds