Our Selective Grief Is Showing.






Trans Woman Nina Pop Stabbed to Death in MissouriAhmaud Arbery Should Be Alive - Rolling Stone
Nina Pop (above). Ahmaud Arbery (below).


Ahmaud Arbery. We've seen: the school picture headshot, dressed in a tuxedo, bright and relaxed smile, facing the camera, to another, more candid, holding the brim of his snapback, the same beautiful smile as the first photo. That is the image I have grown accustomed to seeing and sharing on my social feed. The representation of him that I wish to see and share for the many petitions, and news updates on the status of his killers, swimming with the social media current.
The video? No. But that has not been the general consensus.
Both Black and white folks have chosen to fuel the fire burning for desensitization. For normalization of Black death. For public access to viewing the last moments of Black folks we have and continue to lose by the state and its agents. To feed our pornographic cravings for trauma for social capital, even saying with the utmost detachment: "This is for greater awareness!", "Everyone NEEDS to see this!"."Share if you believe he should still be alive!".
FUCK. YOU. NO. SHIT.
Sharing videos is like rubbing salt into the wounds. It does not change milquetoast, cracked hearts. It does not bring terrorists to heal. It does not free the incarcerated, nor end surveillance of Black bodies. It does not help. IT DOES NOT HELP.
But it feeds that pornographic addiction of yours for Black trauma. Black death.
It does not find nor sever the roots of the rotting tree which still propagates its strange gnarled fruit.
You are desensitized.
Take a step back: Let's talk about selective grieving, and let's evaluate something: Who is and who is not actively sharing this content? Who benefits and who suffers from unwanted exposure, the martyrization of being relegated to the hall of perfect victimhood?
Who is being left out? Who does not get the same outrage and action for justice? What about holding space for ALL who have been lost?
Nina Pop. Missouri. 28. Another Black trans woman stabbed to death in her apartment in Sikeston.
Where is the same level of outrage, weariness, grief, morale to fight, for her?
Repeat after me:
We can hold the same level of urgency for Nina as for Ahmaud if we choose to. 
We have been socialized to care less about Black trans women than Black cis men. We need to interrogate this imbalance.
We practice preferential grieving.
We keep saying, we keep not doing.
Now what? You know.





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