good sentiment but idk… u don’t have to belittle or talk down to the valid anger that oppressed folks express at being ignored—particularly that of non-white folks and those outside the us/west.

I think this exactly expresses what I hope people take away from this post—the internet has the effect of getting people paralyzed because there are so many individual things to care about, and all the pain and need appears to be competing, and people end up trying to divide their energy into very small portions when those small portions are often least effective.

“My eldest daughter, Suldana, is in love with another woman. She is eighteen and she spends her days working at our kiosk selling milk and eggs, and at night she sneaks out and goes down to the beach to see her lover. She crawls back into bed at dawn, smelling of sea and salt and perfume. Suldana is beautiful and she wraps this beauty around herself like a shawl of stars. When she smiles her dimples deepen and you can’t help but be charmed. When she walks down the street men stare and whistle and ache. But they cannot have her. Every day marriage proposals arrive with offers of high dowries but I wave them away. We never talk about these things like mothers and daughters should; but I respect her privacy and I allow her to live.”