Thread by @VABVOX

I stand with @JoyAnnReid
I stand with black women.
I stood with black women in 2005.
I've stood with black women since I was a child & my parents were Civil Rights workers.
I will stand with black women till my last breath.
If you do NOT stand with black women, ask yourself why.

As a #lesbian, I hope people will stand with/for me.
They don't always, because being an ally takes work.
But I welcome allies, no matter how long it takes folks to get there.
We must believe in people being able to #change.
None of us has perfect politics nor personal lives.

Every day people change.
People who were racists realize they were wrong.
Men who were misogynists realize women are people.
Homophobes realize they were wrong.

We all have the power to realize we have been wrong and to change.
Embrace change.
It's how we heal the world.

People hold women and POC to different standards than white men.
Women and POC are allowed no mistakes, no bad choices.
Yet white men get endless do-overs or we wouldn't have a failed businessman charged with racial bias by the DOJ as POTUS because the woman made one mistake.

For 2yrs we heard about @HillaryClinton's emails.
We're STILL talking about them.
There's an actual accused criminal in the White House, but serious journalists are still talking #ButHerEmails, targeting her daughter, going back in time to assail a black woman journalist.
Why?

We can do the work of speaking truth to power
OR
we can do the work of structural #racism and structural #misogyny.
Racism and misogyny literally kill women and POC every day in America.
Own your politics.
Be accountable for the side you stand on.
History will judge you.

I want the most allies.
I want the most voices of women and POC and #LGBT because our voices have been suppressed and silenced for centuries and it is past time we were heard.

Amplify women.
Amplify POC.
Amplify #LGBT.
Amplify suppressed/oppressed voices.

Be. An. Ally.

The concerted effort to take down women, particularly women of color and black women and queer women, is daily and it is awful.

I stand with women.

I stand with black, brown, Asian, Native, lesbian, bi, str8, trans, queer, immigrant, disabled, poor, abused--ALL women.💜🌿

I'm pretty sick right now, as many of you know.

So I don't want to fight just to fight--I want to fight the oppressive systems that make my life, my mixed-race family's life, millions of Americans' lives harder.

I believe @JoyAnnReid is dedicated to doing that, too.

I read this piece by @michaelharriot at @TheRoot.
It explicates what I feel.
What I know about @JoyAnnReid, who I have had many exchanges with & who supports my work as a lesbian journalist, is she is not homophobic, now, today, even if she was years ago.
theroot.com/joy-reid-may-b…

I was expelled from high school for being a #lesbian.
I was put in a mental hospital and treated with #conversiontherapy.
I attempted suicide, but survived.
Lesbian and gay friends of mine were not so lucky.
I know the damage #homophobia wreaks on real people like myself.

If you think I am excusing #homophobia, think again.
But when people change, when we see THROUGH THEIR ACTIONS, that they have changed, embrace that, because we need allies against the people who refuse to change.
@JoyAnnReid changed.
She is an ally, now, today.

Those of us in marginalized communities are often pitted against each other by those who maintain power against those communities. They have different reasons for this, but none of them benefits us.

Those of us who are marginalized owe each other fealty, when we can.

We all have made mistakes.
We all have said and done things that s*ck & if we could do over, we would.
I learn every day ways in which I can be a better ally to POC and other marginalized people.
Be open to changing & growing--for you & others.

WHEN WE KNOW BETTER, WE DO BETTER.

I think we have to ask why people are hunting through @JoyAnnReid's old blog posts in 2018 when Trump is in the White House.
Is she the one who got favors from HUD to buy up poor people's houses and make millions?
Or is she holding the feet of this admin to the fire daily?

I am more inclined to question WHY we are investigating what @JoyAnnReid thought over a decade ago than I am what she thought then. I am concerned with why people want to silence a black woman who now, today, fights for #LGBTQ, for women, for POC, for immigrants, against Trump.