What is an -ist?
Put whatever you want in front of it.
Racist. Sexist. Audist.
I’m not an -ist and don’t take kindly to being called one.
You are Black or White. Hispanic, Latino, Chinese, Asian. You are African. You are American. You are African American.
You are Male. You are Female.
You are Deaf.
You are also Human. It’s what I see first.
Sometimes I say stupid things. Sometimes I do stupid things. I may stumble over my words but I never use words to hurt. And I don’t like to see people say and do things that hurt.
I don’t need to have walked in your shoes to feel empathy. To at least try to understand your journey. We’d never make any progress if that was the case.
Please don’t preach and advocate tolerance and then denigrate those that don’t agree with you. Because that’s, more or less, being intolerant.
14 comments
Right on, Fadra! I wrote about this a while back too. I’m sorry for whatever happened to spark this post, but I know you, and you are one of the most open people I know.
Thank you, Sarah!! It means a lot for you to say that.
I can’t imagine what happened for you to need to post this. I read your posts and see your tweets and I’ve never gotten the feeling you were any of those things. Hugs!
I try to be who I really am. Sometimes it doesn’t always rub people the right way but I don’t have any apologies (most of the time).
I am a proud feminIST. But other ists bother me too. Well said.
If by feminist you mean equal rights and equal pay, RIGHT ON! But I still like to have a man open the door for me 😉
Amen! I don’t know what happened that prompted this, but I’m sorry that things like that happen to anyone. Maybe nothing specific happened, and you just feel strongly. Either way, love your passionate response.
It was something specific but really I’m just glad I had a reason to say it. THANK YOU for your comment! 🙂
I seriously love you. That is all.
The feeling is entirely mutual.
Yes, yes. yes!
Well said. We as North Americans have a bad habit of putting people into boxes based on a single encounter.
I think we miss out on so much of what people have to offer because we assume they are an -ist. There is so much human beauty located outside of the box, it’s a shame we spend so much time putting others into them.
Wow, Dave. Such a beautifully written comment. Sometimes I think people are just screaming too loudly to actually stop and listen.
SO true!
I’m no -ist either.