The Paradox N The Mirror

Never necessarily me *shrug*..........and I will talk about everything......EVERYTHING

[mslunababy]

I just have learned to enjoy things while they last. Nothing is ever permanent.

[gxldbvby]

I hope I never lose the ability to find the small joys in this difficult life

[infatuatedlilbitch]

SOCIAL MEDIA "ACTIVISM" IS KEEPING YOU FROM ACTUAL ACTIVISM - HERE'S THE TRUTH

You think you're staying "informed" by doomscrolling through your social feeds 24/7? That's exactly what they want. It's literally designed to keep you angry, scrolling, and - most importantly - doing absolutely fucking nothing.

HERE'S WHAT NO ONE TELLS YOU:

It's OKAY to edit your feeds so you don't see that shit when you're just trying to exist

You do NOT have to consume the world's suffering every second of every day to be a "good activist" - and by the way? You're not even getting "informed" by scrolling. You need to actually look up real articles OFF of social media to understand what's happening

Hitting like and share isn't activism. Sorry. It just isn't.

You wanna actually do something?

Learn your neighbors' names. ACTUALLY TALK TO THEM about what's happening

Join your school board and ask them face-to-face why they're against queer education

Stand up to your racist uncle instead of "keeping the peace" (peace for WHO exactly?)

Find out what abortion rights groups are ALREADY DOING in your area instead of reinventing the wheel

Join an actually inclusive church (you know, like Jesus would've wanted) and see what they're ALREADY DOING to make the world better

And for fuck's sake, stop saying "oh I don't talk about politics" - YOUR SILENCE IS POLITICAL

NEWSFLASH: You don't have to start the fucking underground railroad by yourself. That shit ALREADY EXISTS - you just never had to use it before. Lucky you. So volunteer if you're a safe person, at whatever level works for you:

Send money

Show up in person

Pack supplies

Make pamphlets

Whatever you can do

Not everything's gonna get you in the history books and you know what? IT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER.

And here's something else that matters: Going to trauma therapy - REAL trauma therapy with a therapist informed in decolonization practices - is a RADICAL ACT. If you have the means to do it, DO IT. Healing yourself is part of the work too.

AND LISTEN UP BECAUSE THIS IS IMPORTANT: IT'S OKAY THAT IT TOOK YOU THIS LONG IT'S OKAY THAT YOU'RE STARTING SMALL IT'S OKAY THAT YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING

NO ONE EVER PUNISHED THEMSELVES INTO SUCCESS.

You grew up with some racist/sexist views? Yeah, most of us did. You can't get stuck there. There's too much at stake. It's time to deconstruct. It's time to do the work.

But scrolling and sharing posts while feeling guilty? That's not the work. That's what they want you to think the work is.

Get off your phone. Talk to your neighbors. Show up at meetings. Stand up to family. THAT'S the work.

[millennial-review-deactivated20]

[surra-de-bunda]

Known to many as the most beautiful male model of all time. Not much is known about him except that he was a fixture at Studio 54. The actor Raymond St Jacques was his adopted “father”. On any given night at studio 54, Sterling could be seen twirling Bianca Jagger, Pat Cleveland and Grace Jones around the floor. Caroline Kennedy would go to Studio 54 just to dance with Sterling. Sterling, Raymond, Howard Rollins and Paul Winfield were also fixtures in the Castro. Pat and Sterling danced on Soul Train for a minute.

Sterling never reached the levels of success as his female counterpart Grace Jones although he did make an attempt in the early eighties at a music career. People talk about Tyson Beckford, but Sterling was the first to walk the runways for Givenchy, Halston and Yves Saint Laurent. He came, he danced and died with no fanfare. So every time you see a black man walking a runway or modeling in print just think about Sterling for a minute because he was the first.

[kweendestiny]

[rob-walks-deactivated20210614]

this cracked me the fuck up 😭

[xlanaiidior]

Screaming😭😭😭

[controlthewill]

LMFAOOO the Wakanda salute 😂😂😭

[afronerdism]

NwiaUnakaihaajoinaoaaiajah I fucking love it

[ringsideruckus]

Super funny

[mommy-mortis]

[desactivemaintenant-deactivated]

[blackchlorine]

For the Black girls who grew up believing that their features were ugly….

They lied to us! We’re beautiful. ✨

[lucidlymelanated]

🥺🥹

[feelingsnfiascos]

“Darling, you are a goddess. And once you know what that truly means, I pray for anyone who tries to hurt you.”

— Alonsus Cedril  (via wordsnquotes)

[paradoxdeuce]

I think I'm finally ready to give up on romantic love. It hurts but what's the purpose of holding out hope for something that never seems to happen? I've got to figure out how to shift my focus so that love in the romantic sense ain't it. 🤷🏾‍♀️

[paradoxdeuce]

I just wanna be free.

[paradoxdeuce]

My lesson for today was I'm not Superwoman and it is very ok to cry.

Like whoever told a water sign they couldn't be emotional? Sadly, at some point I was put under the impression that I couldn't because if I did that meant I broke and I would have nothing else to sustain my power. Not being fully vulnerable, even with myself, allows me to keep pushing through exhaustion. I can't feel defeat because I'm tired but perseverance, right? How many times do I have to learn this particular lesson? You persevere so you don't ask for help, you persevere so you push past your own struggle to help others...while very admirable, it's actually weak in a way. You can be the strongest person seemingly thanks to the validation of others that "don't know how you do it"...but personally you're hanging on by the thinnest thread hoping that bitch don't break because when you finally stop moving everything crashes on you! Everything you thought you could handle by yourself will finally look hollow, not unworthy of the attention you gave it, but the energy you gave could be seen as over compensation. That statement, amazement of what you push through is not the validation you think it is. The pouring from a cup you had no idea of how to fill because you were conditioned to constantly fill the cups of others, makes you empty. Your soul is tired. The expectation you had that others would do their part to has left you with the worst resentment because you had to do 2 person/3 person commitments as 1 person and make that shit work. Not even death, figuratively, could keep you from it but it had to be done. However, it all could certainly bring you death, literally. But you give grace, even when you don't feel it. You take on more cuz someone has to. God takes care of fools and babies and you're his helper...(He ain't ask for your help) You're not Superwoman...you're not you're mother either. Is that a type of imposter syndrome? When you don't want to be someone but you walk the exact same servant path that you loathe your loved one walked even though you can see how much they lost?

And it's not a terrible thing to cry. I realized today that my child hates that she's so sensitive, she hates to cry, she hates that things affect her to the point she hates life. Crying is the most basic release of emotion that can bring clarity. It's like the first answer to "I hate feeling the way I feel" and social constructs robs us of the most human thing we have by rooting it in weakness. Crying is not weak in any form. It you, it's human. Sure, something or people aren't worth crying over but noone should let that stop them if that's how they feel. Life is hard, dealing with yourself is harder, being a seemingly single guide/parent to a teenage girl is trauma, being a caregiver to a parent who thought she seemed to be Superwoman and watching that decline is devastating and all this while working a full time job that can't make the ends wave at each other. That's my life...that shit is hard and that sentence ain't even the half of it. Check the other post to see how many other facets I rationalize neglecting because this stack of hats deserves the most energy. I can finally admit I was thrown into the role with no life jacket and still can't find one. So my life is not defined, and horrifically I see so much of my mother in me. She gave til the cup turned inside out and she still gives shards of glass as she crumbles just tryna help those who honestly if they cared to put forth the effort could help themselves. Sounds ghastly doesn't it? Could you imagine living it? If you see me, remind me that I'm not Superwoman and that it's ok to cry. And if I give a hearty laugh just hold me close.

[greggiephat]

“…Sometimes people try to destroy you, precisely because they recognize your power — not because they don’t see it, but because they see it and they don’t want it to exist.”

— bell hooks (via perfect)

[anyabocharov]

[alwaysbewoke]

there are no good cops

[alwaysbewoke]

@yeoldespinsternerd​ all y’all do suck tho because even if you may not have done this, you would have most likely protected the cops who did via the “thin blue line” or “blue wall of silence” bullshit. 

it’s like this, if there are 10 ppl in a room, 3 of them molest children, the other 7 don’t BUT know the other 3 does and says nothing, how many good people are in the room? answer ZERO. there are no good people in the room. there are only criminals and co-conspirators. cops are either doing the crime OR protecting cops who do the crime. that’s it. the few that actually stand up to criminal cops get excommunicated and thrown off the force.

one more time: THERE ARE NO GOOD COPS. and yes that includes YOU.

[alwaysbewoke]

@yeoldespinsternerd​ 

[extramadness]