I am often the first black woman to have ever said “no” to some people and you can tell.

I have to do a great many things. And part of becoming a black woman is learning, to a fine grain of detail, the many things you must do for various reasons that range from coercion to force.

So when you ask me to do something that I am able to deny, I will often choose to do so. And I will defend my right to do it with a ferociousness borne of constrained choices and exhaustion.

Or to misquote @ruha9 sometimes when I “overreact” I am responding to the indignities of generations of my foremothers who couldn’t say no.

Anyway I just revoked a white woman’s privilege of speaking to me. I just need to get things done and go to bed.