my address to my personal amy coopers

Dear Amy Cooper.

I will not tolerate a finger wag of privilege or entitlement

From you.

No email

No facebook message

No unliked post will go unscrutinized.

For power wielding

or galavanting your unearned lordship over me

Will not be overlooked.

Not today.

And not any day beyond it.

Amy Cooper.

You will not use fear tactics to con me into giving you what you want

When you want it

Or let you think that I am anything other than human

Imperfect

Full of hope and promises

And also failure.

I will not let you reduce me to my productivity

Or a (my/our) learned habit

of gripping onto statements

made at a time very different from today

and resurrecting them as some concrete statute of truth.

I am not bound

to any part of my being

That I was yesterday

Because that being is not the one who stands before you today.

This being is traumatized and still thriving

She is shining light in the dawn of some of the darkest corners of the history of the earth

She is carrying battered beings

and nourishing belittling beings

with the same quality of care

This being is bruised and still serving.

No

I will not

let you have that power.

I AM A PERSON!

I was not designed to serve you but I do so

Willfully

With a heart bursting

with a desire to see you succeed

And grow

And flourish

And bloom,

Amy cooper.

Don’t you dare diminish the leaps and bounds I travel to make and keep you happy.

How many times have I stroked your ego?

How many times have I made you believe in yourself when you could not see beyond the coat of shame and unworthiness?

How many times have I lifted you when I could barely carry myself?

Amy cooper you are not absolved of your dirty hands

You viewed but did not comment

Did not message

Did not advocate

You didn’t resist the violence of that symbolic downward pointed finger

That resembles a gun pointed at my brothers

This community will be built by me and my ideals

It will be shaped in my image because my vision is trusted here

Not just by humans

But by my destiny

My destiny trusts me to manifest the fullness of my potential

And shape a world

full with the beauty of

Justice

Of intimate and honest connection

Of mistakes and failure and ownership

And imperfection

And..

This world was crafted for you

to feel comfortable shaming

and disparaging

and belittling, my efforts

my intelligence

my contributions

with these small but shrieking gestures

you don't even notice the weight of

but I will tear this world down pebble by pebble

and beseech you

to help me clean up the rubble.

These are my words

this is a declaration.

I want to thank you for acknowledging

The space of respect I am

Inciting

Provoking

Begging

Encouraging

Screaming for

you to

Take note of

and honor.