8:46pm September 9, 2014

“
Black people are not trying to BE white people. We do not wanna replace you. Women do not want to be men. We do not wanna step into…male bodies. That’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re not talking about being the absolute same as people. We’re talking about being treated equally—meaning I don’t wanna be a white girl, but I don’t wanna be discriminated against because I’m not a white girl. I don’t wanna be a man, but I don’t wanna be denied a promotion or get paid less because I’m not one. That’s what the fuck we’re saying…

Simply because of who we are, shit is not fair. So all the different ‘isms’ that y’all try to act like you don’t need, or you don’t understand, or you don’t see the point of, or you don’t wanna identify as: it’s all about leveling the motherfucking playing field. Not about making us all the goddamn same…And I don’t understand why y’all act like this is so fucking hard to understand. Is that a crazy concept?
”

—

crissle on why ‘equality’ does not mean ‘sameness’, “The Bird Squat” episode of The Read

(via katrinapavela)

To respond to the hashtags:

#the people who assume equality means sameness #are fucking terrifying

Yes, and they are terrifying on both sides of the fence.

There are those who want to treat everyone the same, identically, because to them, that’s what equality means.

And there are those who refuse to listen to anyone who uses the word ‘equality’ because they insist it means same or identical. So any time I say I’m a fucking equal human being, which I have to say, given that my personhood is literally in question in some philosophical circles… then there are always those who will tell me I don’t get it because I just want everyone to be the same. And that’s frustrating as fuck, not to mention I swear it must be a kind of derailing. (“You said equality! You must mean you want everyone the same!” No, no I don’t, stop doing that, just stop doing that to my words.)

Notes: