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The ways I have been erased...
Apr. 27th, 2019 01:14 pmPeople have tried to erase within my traumas and the mistakes of my life. As if that was the end of my story.
People want to not speak about women's real lives, real bodies, real skin color, real wisdom. People do not want to speak to my values of Motherhood because I haven't birthed anyone. People do not want to speak of my family values because it is not a formula of a white conservative family. People do not want to speak about being bilingual, how this connects you to a wider amount of the world.
People want to erase independent women from the great narratives.
People want to erase my story of being gay in Don't Ask / Don't Tell military
People want to erase my story due to my gender or my apparent age or real age.
People want to erase my story due to my weight or my body weight, as if your body dictates whether your story is visible or not.
Once upon of time growing up a girl in a colonized territory was erased, it still is for Guam and America Samoa, my political cousins in the Pacific.
The older I get the more I feel comfortable taking space with the authority of the degree I earned, but I can tell at times when I shy away from taking space...that is not a coincidence, because people have been real busy trying to erase who I am. It is not convenient to mention the abuse and the exploitation that has happened of myself and of my people.
It is a constant struggle to acknowledge this and recognize the effects of it when I see it.
People want to not speak about women's real lives, real bodies, real skin color, real wisdom. People do not want to speak to my values of Motherhood because I haven't birthed anyone. People do not want to speak of my family values because it is not a formula of a white conservative family. People do not want to speak about being bilingual, how this connects you to a wider amount of the world.
People want to erase independent women from the great narratives.
People want to erase my story of being gay in Don't Ask / Don't Tell military
People want to erase my story due to my gender or my apparent age or real age.
People want to erase my story due to my weight or my body weight, as if your body dictates whether your story is visible or not.
Once upon of time growing up a girl in a colonized territory was erased, it still is for Guam and America Samoa, my political cousins in the Pacific.
The older I get the more I feel comfortable taking space with the authority of the degree I earned, but I can tell at times when I shy away from taking space...that is not a coincidence, because people have been real busy trying to erase who I am. It is not convenient to mention the abuse and the exploitation that has happened of myself and of my people.
It is a constant struggle to acknowledge this and recognize the effects of it when I see it.
