And even Nero fiddled while Rome burned. 

It is not the responsibility of marginalized individuals to repair any system which was built upon their backs and continued subjugation. It is also not the responsibility of any marginalized individual to lead any movement which has been developed to combat said subjugation within the aforementioned, "any industry."

I thought that was fairly obvious, but I forget people love to play the convenient idiot.

And they also love a mule.
And victim blaming.

As a reminder - I'm not fighting, marching, signing anything nor invoking any emotional public plea as a way to encourage people to see me as a human being.
Haven't since midnight on November 8, 2016.

Unless it involves the most passive of engagements, aka voting which I do partially to uphold my alleged civic responsibility and partially at the behest of the hawk-eyed woman who left her family for a husband who promised her tenacity would thrive in a country which prided itself on being the home of those who held even better lives than the fairly good one she had in Cameroon, do not turn your eyes or pamphlets over to me.

My voice has become too hoarse, my disappointments have mounted too high for me to continue participating in this charade.

I can no longer be an active participant in the Revolution - for my own health, I have become a bystander.

As the Revolution has yet deigned to listen to my voice and the voices of the other women who look and share the same culture as me, I've come to the realization the burden no longer rests atop my shoulders - I won’t allow it to.

I’ve had to ask myself just what am I fighting for? Who is fighting by my side? Is it worth it if you are still a victim? If no one is bothering to listen?

You know what terrifies me? The fact that this broken ecosystem will have an impact on my physical health. The fact that I, being Black and Woman living in America am more inclined to an early grave because my presence is an unwitting victim to the evils of white supremacy and patriarchy. That I am beaten, daily, by the after effects of a system which does not appear to be losing any momentum - at least not anytime soon.

My existence may be a burden to them, but it will not be a burden to me.

Also, as we all know, I'm selfish. To quote my mother - you will not kill me.

To quote any Nigerian, ever, "I can't come and kill myself."

So say all you want about my manner of self-preservation but, unless otherwise appointed, I am not bearing any responsibility for the rise or fall of any empire.

I am no longer leading the charge to dismantling any industry's toxic and insidious roots.

The burden of that responsibility does not lie on me as an individual who is neither an active nor  inadvertent benefactor of any system of American-bred supremacy.


Call someone else.