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'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'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't grow up on the streets. My home was the street that sheltered the vagabonds