QUEER ODOR ▽*

One of the potentially nastiest things about race, racism, and white supremacy here in the U.S is that if you internalize it for the majority of your life, you begin to buy into the idea that your culture and your identity is defective and faulty. You start apologizing for how complicated your name can be, you apologize for how others (outside of your culture) perceive your food, you apologize for the traditions inherent to your family and try to hide it… and with all of that, you start carrying the same weapons that are used against you: you carry out white supremacy’s job of distracting folks from the disparities that disproportionately affect communities of color in society, politics, economics, etc. You start having to use energy on the wrong things, on the wrong people, on “fixing” yourself. And folks who started this mess get to sit back because centuries of colonization and imperialism allowed them to; they don’t have to actively alienate or otherize POC, they’ve conditioned us to do it for and to ourselves. 

So here’s what I’m saying: no shame, no apologies - just resist!