I didn’t expect this tweet to go viral.
As my following has grown, I’ve had more folks who don’t know me well express fears around my vocality - namely being afraid that if we were to ever experience conflict that my response would be to bring this conflict to social media. 1/ https://twitter.com/mckensiemack/status/1258803671539859459

I know this happens all the time on this platform and others so I get that fear - but I am not Robocop.

My own boundaries around accountability culture and social justice wouldn’t allow me to do that. 2/

I like to do my best to handle harm between myself and another person by communicating directly with that person. I do this because, for me, the goal of justice is not to punish but to hold accountable. 3/

I’ve experienced conflicts where I was able to talk to a person directly about something they did or said that was harmful to me and they accepted that accountability. I’ve had other experiences where the person I’ve approached refused to accept it and refused to change. 4/

I’ve never named any of those people publicly because I don’t believe that seeking to punish them in this way would be just or kind or fair. 5/

Filling a person’s mentions with shame for what they have done to me would do nothing for me and I believe would do nothing to drive dialogue between me and that person. So what would be the point? How does furthering harm heal harm? 6/

My work is about dismantling systems that marginalize us, that box us in, that teach us mythologies about ourselves and other people which keep us from embracing all which makes us whole and all which reminds us of how worthy we are of being held, loved... 7/

offered grace when we are wrong, cared for, protected, and held accountable so that we have the opportunity to become better and to do better.

I will never try to destroy you or tear you down, but I will hold you accountable. 8/

I will never allow anyone to bully me, manipulate me, project their insecurities onto me, but even when distancing myself from such a person who refuses to hold accountability for their harm - I will not seek punishment as a tool for justice. 9/

In the words of Audre Lorde, “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” 10/