I'm done

(This will be a long #thread) /1

There’s a risk as a professional coach, and HRD, that you end up sublimating your own thoughts and feelings. There’s a risk as a small business-owner that you overthink what clients’ reactions might be if you are too vocal or stand out too much.

Well this morning…sod that /2

For decades I have experienced and witnessed people’s aggression, passive or otherwise, because they cannot cope with difference.

Majorities have sought to deny rights to minorities. They bleat about loss when we try to level the playing field. /3

In their #privilege, and often in their ignorance of the world, they fail to understand the realities of life for those who do not belong to their in-groups.

I really am done with this. Yes…I’m angry. /4

I’m done with the constant homophobia faced by the #LGBT communities simply for existing. To those who physically and verbally assault us. To those who criticise anything designed to support or even benefit us, somehow assuming that we don’t pay our taxes /5

& contribute to the economy just like everyone else. To those who are offended by any reference to our lives but expect us to smile along in a heteronormative world.

I’m done with the sexism, chauvinism &, let’s say it, violence of too many men towards women /6

#heforshe

The men who sack women for being, or potentially becoming, pregnant.

The creepy “old school” business owners, MPs and princes who misuse their positions to mistreat women verbally, physically and sexually /7

#timeforchange

I’m done with those who, wallowing in their #whiteprivilege, respond to #BlackLivesMatter (that’s ALL black lives btw) with their simpering, smirking, trite ‘white lives matter too’ as if those of us with less melanin haven’t benefited from advantages since time immemorial /8

I’m done with those who go to huge lengths, pages of the stuff, to collate confirmatory-biased data in order to (pseudo)intellectualise their dislike of/hatred for the #trans communities, who depict one of the most abused minorities as if they themselves are the threat /9

I’m done with people in the #HR professions, of all people, tweeting prejudiced nonsense about trans women
...with those who amplify rare events to create stereotypes which vilify entire groups of people, precisely the tactic used to subjugate minority groups through the ages/10

I’m done with those who erect barriers to hiring people living with disabilities - be they physical or mental; with those who fail to include/understand people who, like me (I feel I should declare the interest), are in some way #neurodiverse /11

And I’m done with those who fail to promote a more socially just society, starting with the lying regime of charlatans who currently occupy our seats of power. Why exactly are we not on the streets? /12

#GTTO

I’m done with people who smile through a facade of ‘politeness’ as they promote #discrimination against, and resist progression for, others. Frankly this insidious behaviour is as repellent as the spitting, snarling, invidious type. In some ways worse /13

If you aren’t actively anti-racist you are racist (thank you @DrIbram) If you aren’t actively anti-homophobia, you are homophobic. If you aren’t actively ‘pro’ a minority group (e.g. trans women) you are ‘anti’ that group. There are no halfway houses - they're binary choices /14

It’s time to be morally courageous. It’s time to stop tolerating hatred. It’s time to be more noisy about all this outside and inside the workplace. It’s time (as if it hasn’t been for years) simply not to accept discrimination ... /15

@hopenothate #StopFundingHate

It’s time for me to rediscover the Tony who, as a younger man, would resist, would fight back without fearing the consequences. It may even be time for more of us to engage in firmer political activity (non-violent direct action even?) in service of a more #inclusive society /16

If you don’t like this, if you don’t want me to be campaigning, if you don’t expect some sort of challenge… well …I’m afraid to say there is no longer room for you in my corner of the Twitterverse /17

Otherwise please also choose to be ‘done’. Your available choice is to step in & fight back. To be part of the decent majority who will no longer tolerate hatred on social media and out in the real world.

I'd love for you to be my ally x /END

#equality #diversity #inclusion