We Are Not Aligned
This week the person who wrote the following article reached out to feature one of my pieces.
A screen capture of Seeing Black Women Twerk on The Gram Makes my Skin Crawl by Maia Niguel Hoskin.
I quickly let them know we were not aligned. Weeks ago I posted a video of me twerking and I plan to do it again. Their article goes on and on about higher education vs. twerking. It assumes that if you are twerking you are not pursuing higher education or anything for that matter. It places a lot of blame on Black women for the continued fetishization and sexualization of our bodies instead of placing it where it needs to go.
Long story short, we are not aligned.
I am Black, Sāmoan, Queer, Trans and a disabled veteran. I am currently transitioning in many ways and am becoming aware of alignment or lack there of in connections faster.
The post below, which begins homophobic and became transphobic later in the comments, is by a voice I followed for awhile. It confused me for a bit but after watching her respond to Queer people in the comments, it was clear we were no longer aligned.
Aaisha Joseph makes a post that tries to use boundaries as an excuse for homophobia.
It has been difficult for me to intersect in a lot of spaces but not impossible.
Black womanhood, community and sisterhood is something I hold closely. While it stings that sometimes people that look like me and have similar shared experiences are not aligned, it’s helpful to know that there are people who have been, are and will continue to be aligned with me even as I transition and express my self through different mediums. I am grateful for them daily and hope we all are able to let go of those who are not aligned despite our similarities. We deserve so much more. 💜
Thank you for reading through! Hi, I’m K Mataōtama Strohl (They/Them). I’d love to be able to continue to share stories like this but I need your help to be able to do so. Please visit my Ko-Fi page to tip what you can and gain access to my other work. You can learn more about me and my work at the link below.
