Let's talk about Blackness and intersectionality.

Being a comrade in action with Black liberation is fundamental when facing issues of all other marginalized identities in the US. Why? For one, Black people exist in those groups.

Also, the forms of oppression we share are deeply rooted in and often developed through the mistreatment of Black people. I wont get into specifics, but chattel slavery is toned down from a mile to an inch. As is the rest of Black history, both the pain and the joy.

What every marginalized group understands in the activist space is that our oppression is a SYSTEMIC problem. To fix that problem you absolutely have to face the system that holds it in place. That system is build on Black misery and there's no way around that.

A lot of people jump and go "BUT EVERYONE ELSE TOO" and yeah I get your "all lives matter" vibe. That response is a large part of what we're fighting against, because until we can look at each piece of our intersecting issues and understand them best we can, we can't progress.

What's being said is that until you understand how Black peoples BEAUTIFUL lives (I love y'all so much) are impacted by a system built on our axis, which is a big ass axis, we can't dismantle anything. It's tied into capitalism. It's tied into gender, sexual or., disability, etc.

The axis of oppression that you stand on? It is in part ours as well. Facing ours is facing yours. We're addressing the house that's on fire because it's burning. When it goes out, we're going up and down the block to make sure each house is safe. We're doing that now honestly.

What scares people, imo? Is that Black people are going to act like white people have to them. Get ours and try to claw our way into a place of supremacy. They don't understand that Blackness is inherently anti-supremacist. It is not built on a desire to dominate.

Blackness is built on a desire to thrive. To live in peace. To harbor and build communities. We're built on fairness and equality and joy. And our inability to stand by while injustice spreads around us.

Understand that. We're intersectional.