policing tone versus calling out inaction. i've severely under-appreciated how learning the term for certain behaviors empowers one to recognize it even more. the misogynoir of Black men who only center their existence and ego in the struggle now seems so tiresome. read some. 1/n

"I saw a demon on my shoulder, it's lookin' like patriarchy"- @ noname
"If you can't replace the person being targeted with a woman of another race or someone of another gender, you know misogynoir is in play." - @ moyazb

cw: gender-based violence, assault

i literally knew nothing about the role that i play in perpetuating said behavior just last week, (and honestly still know next to nothing) and holy sh*t, am i still unlearning, and d*ng i know i will never stop unlearning.

home country has one of highest rates of violence against people of marginalized genders. attended an "elite" all boys' high school where we NEVER spoke about it (me @ 15, @ 18, @ 22 = ). ditto @ALAcademy.

and honestly, i know that i never asked and even if someone told me, i probably never listened. there is sooo much to unpack about myself by myself.

the synonymity between men are trash and acab is unsettling but sooo rightfully so. particularly us Black men who understand the difficulty of entering white spaces but not only fail to uplift Black marginalized genders but deliberately put them and their struggle down.

all i'm hoping is that these tweets of mine and honestly, my entire online presence become less and less performative as i read, listen and (un)learn (and maybe- actually, definitely- google a lot). there is soooo much to dismantle.

@ moyazb,
@ MorganJerkins,
@ IjeomaOluo,
@ jesmimi,
https://twitter.com/_SJPeace_/status/1272565173228879872?s=20,
https://twitter.com/musegold/status/1273737731097743365?s=20
#SayHerName,
#SayTheirName

Black womxn and gender-nonconforming people being harmed, killed by Black hands, Black male hands. The erasure of their experiences against police brutality and inequality. The list is too long for 280 characters. Some of these things may seem too big to tackle as one individual.

but like they've said time and time again, these crimes have roots at a level most if not all, black men have encountered and similarly, can mitigate:
https://twitter.com/_Therealrjm/status/1273329910535327744?s=20,

PS: if you're a Black man and claim to care about Black lives but this is all new to you like it is to me, this is work that you and I cannot continue to ignore and honestly, is really not even something that deserves acknowledgement or praise from anyone tbh.

playing the good guy for some sort of reward, is LITERALLY a part of the problem.

(and yes, i know, the dopamine rush is nice and addicting)

BUUUTTTT

it's a responsibility. we've asked this of the popo but it is also so applicable here. do you get a gold star and a pat on the back every time you literally do what is simply, the right thing to do?

anyways, those were my unsolicited 1am thoughts. super open to feedback; try as i might to avoid it, if i made mistakes in this thread or am inaccurate or not inclusive of other identities, feel free to call me out.

in the meantime, imma work some sh*t out on my own. if you want to exchange notes, sure, we can, but there are LITERAL experts out there on this subject in your communities and online and it's high time their voices are amplified by my own and other Black men like moi.

ignorance is not an excuse. having an average iq is not an excuse. you cannot just "do a lot of thinking".