Oppression Is As American As

I Am Not Just A Lesbian. I Am Not Just A Poet. I Am Not Just A Mother. Honor The Complexity Of Your Vision And Yourselves.

It Is Learning How To Stand Alone, Unpopular And Sometimes Reviled, And How To Make Common Cause With Those Other Identified As Outside The Structures, In Order To Define And Seek A World In Which We Can All Flourish. It Is Learning How To Take Our Differences And Make The Strengths. For The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master's House.

We Cannot Settle For The Pretenses Of Connection, Or For The Parodies Of Self-love.

I Was Going To Die, If Not Sooner, Then Later, Whether Or Not I Had Ever Spoken Myself. My Silences Had Not Protected Me. Your Silence Will Not Protect You.

If You Do Not Learn To Hate You Will Never Be Lonely Enough To Love Easily Nor Will You Always Be Brave, Although It Does Not Grow Any Easier. Do Not Pretend To Convenient Beliefs, Even When They Are Righteous; You Will Never Be Able To Defend Your City While Shouting.