With grace and a deep passion and love for the members of my community, I am leaving Facebook where it is for some time. Today I realized that I am navigating a white womans world seeing through the eyes of a Southern black woman who has always been affirmed in that identity. That is no longer the case, and I dont exactly know when social media became the platform for the complicated issues that are not easy to rationally respond to (at all!), but it is becoming a problem for me. I cannot navigate this world, and acknowledge the very systems of oppression that come in the from of ignorance via social media....and remain a sane student dedicated to carrying out the work of justice through scholarship, my chosen form of activism, in the footsteps of an activist father, a scholar in his own right. When racialized identities are characterized as labels when they are the causes of the painful lived experiences of folks of color (including myself, now that I am here) I feel disrespected and disregarded. And i cannot navigate this world (smith) and home (Facebook) at the same time. I will be sane. I will be physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally healthy. I will learn. I will grow...and at moments like this, I realize that all of this may mean I will not be returning to a southern community that does even acknowledge its own past but has turned my own father blue in the face fighting for it to change. I cant deal with such a painful reality right now. This is not my battle. The world and everything in it is not my problem to continually educate, it is just not my problem. I will be posting pictures though :) Im going to Boston, New York, and New Jersey next week and the following week, to Atlanta. So look out for those! And I get all messages via messenger. But I cant deal with the other shit right now. Peace. -Tabatha
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 22:52:40 +0000
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