I am tired.

As an activist, I am tired.

As a queer woman of color, I am tired.

As a mother, I am tired.

As a daughter of an immigrant, I am tired. 

I am tired of carrying the burden of fighting for social justice.

I am tired of people picking and choosing causes to get behind.

I am tired of being cast aside because of my sexuality.

I am tired of my skin being weaponized and used as an excuse to justify others hatred.

I am tired of my zip code determining if I’ll live under hyper-surveillance by the police.  

I am tired of my body, an instrument of creation, having more regulations placed upon it, then a machine made to end it.

I am tired of so-called liberals only showing up when white bodies are on the line.

I am tired of losing social justice warriors to heart attacks, suicides, police and ICE. 

It has been 50 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

His name is the biggest amongst our fallen heroes.

His words contorted to fit the agendas of the exact people he criticized. 

Dr. King didn’t just have a dream.

He also gave us critique and opportunity to look at ourselves and our role in oppression. 

We must now take the time to be critical of where we are and how we got here.

We must speak of white supremacy on a systematic level and not just when khakis and pitchforks are blasted across news feeds.

We must fully listen to the truth of the marginalized and actually believe them. 

We must take the steps to right the wrongs we have committed.

We must step outside of comfort and be honest about the reality of the country we live in. 

We live on stolen land cleared out by near genocide, built by kidnapped Africans labeled as slaves. 

Racism has been used as a tool for the conception of this country and it is engrained — deeply — in every aspect of our culture. 

Prisons are resurrected plantations, filled with brown and black bodies, never given a chance of clemency.  Never given mercy.  Never given xxx

We speak of gun control only when a school is shot up, but we are silent as hundreds of kids die on the streets every week.  Our lips remain silent about state-perpetrated violence.

We use civility to tone-police those trying to speak out, because we prioritize our comfort over their rights. 

We police the bodies of our daughters and femmes’, and by doing so, give their agency and self-esteem to the boys that gazes they must avoid.

We let the oppressors define other’s existence but when a group tries to make their own identity, we demonize the word politically correct to silence them.

We use blood quantum laws to strip away rights and benefits of the American Indigenousness peoples. 

Yet, have culturally enacted the one drop rule to justify discrimination of others.

We allow race and geography to be deciding factors of access to schooling, food and safety.

These are not coincidences but due to our biased attempt at desegregation. 

We have become comfortable with what we have and are unwilling to go without to benefit another.  

We must now do the work to decolonize our mind and finally stop white supremacy’s grasp on our cultures. 

This isn’t about making white folks feel bad for the privilege they have benefited from for over 300 years. 

This is about making sure every human has the right to live with dignity. 

No matter their skin tone, nationality, sexuality, gender presentation or religious beliefs.

Nothing that I am saying is new. 

These truths were spoken by not only Dr. King but by Bayard Rustin, the women of the Black Lives Matter movement, our undocumented community and others around the world facing oppression due to colonialism.

Even in 1967, Dr. King spoke of the urgency of now. 

He said we must do what is right before it is too late. 

We must not forget that entrenched in our history is also resistance.

It has taken people being bold enough to step outside of the status quo, to stand up for what is right. 

It is because of those people brave enough to stand behind leaders not afraid to speak up, we have made headway in progression and equality. 

Those days are not over.

Where we go from here, is up to you.

Right now, we have leaders in every facet of the movement looking for help.

But we need bodies to show up to rallies.

They need financial support.

They need volunteers.  They need me and they need you. 

Bayard Rustin, Dr. King’s top advisor, once said “We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers. Our power is in our ability to make things unworkable. The only weapon we have is our bodies. And we need to tuck them in places so wheels don’t turn.”

Are you ready to step out of the chaos and back into our global community, to ensure that everyone has the privilege to live with honor and respect?  

By Tatjana Rebelle | Rebelleswords.com | 2020