This is the third and last Twitter-compilation post for 2013 (Part 1: Seeing the Real | Part 2: Evolving Deliberately).
Changing the World includes tweets on social development, justice, activism, politics, and progress.
3. Changing the World
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” ~Thomas Paine
— Eliminate Prejudice (@elimin8prejudic) March 25, 2013
I’m starting to think that the Facebook status update I liked has had absolutely no influence on Government policy at all.
— Mr Roger Quimbly (@RogerQuimbly) April 16, 2013
You never know who needs to hear your voice to keep going. So speak loudly, speak bravely, and speak often. #afrofeminism
— Spectra Speaks (@spectraspeaks) April 20, 2013
Nobody has the answers, but when we speak, we make life more tolerable and we feel less alone. That’s all I got on it.
— Josie Pickens (@jonubian) April 21, 2013
You only don’t see race in America if you have the privilege of not doing so. Or you’re delusional.
— Ebony SkyTalker (@sfreynolds) May 25, 2013
Listen RT @_MissV: Dont let your loyalty become slavery. If they dont appreciate what u bring to the table. Let them eat alone.
— Josie Pickens (@jonubian) May 29, 2013
Privilege is being able to walk away from situations that others are bound to because of their circumstances.
— Siren (@SaladReloaded) June 1, 2013
On this day in 1924, Congress granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians. I believe it was the National Chutzpah Act of 1924.
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) June 2, 2013
Tank Man: http://t.co/uAGXTLSHaj Lego Man: pic.twitter.com/7G6molfPci Duck Man: pic.twitter.com/rCdcJYtby1 Pig Bird: pic.twitter.com/60Y1lfn2zJ
— Samuel Wade (@samuel_wade) June 3, 2013
We’re asking you to be tolerant. You’re asking us to not exist. Who is really forcing who?
— Javed Jagai Aajri (@SmadiPitni) June 14, 2013
Keep your journey and your evolution or lack thereof to yourself and do something useful and practical that can be used as a resource.
— Kristin Rawls (@kristinrawls) June 23, 2013
When you say/do nothing, it matters. When you say/do something, it matters. Silence is no savior.
— SDA Kinship (@SDAKinship) June 25, 2013
the *entire* point of the Civil Rights Movement for Southern black folk was that the rights of citizenship shld not be dependent upon region
— I’Nasah (@so_treu) June 25, 2013
This is *also* what democracy looks like. Soon as the rules don’t work for the powerful, they break them. Feature of the system, not a bug.
— Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) June 26, 2013
So I can get married but my minority friends can’t vote. Hooray.
— Jay Michaelson (@jaymichaelson) June 26, 2013
To trans folks who have fought for marriage equality even as cis gay folks have been reluctant to return the favor, thank you so, so much.
— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) June 26, 2013
The real challenge for our generation is to create a future where people, not corporations, are in control.
— Aral Balkan (@aral) July 1, 2013
Authorities will resist healing when they aren’t its mediators, it bucks their regulations, & it suggests authority beyond them. #kmtg13
— SDA Kinship (@SDAKinship) July 4, 2013
The absolute worst of it all is shaming someone for being fundamentally who he or she is. Not merit- but identity-based shame? How dare you.
— stacia l. brown (@slb79) July 6, 2013
A system cannot fail those it was never built to protect
— W.E.B.B.I.E DuBois (@fivefifths) July 14, 2013
Privilege says I’ll only listen to oppressed voices if they describe their negative experiences in a hopeful way & I leave feeling hopeful.
— Christena Cleveland (@CSCleve) July 14, 2013
To not see race is to not see history, to not see context, to not see cause. It’s not transcendence of racism, it’s a strategic perpetuation
— Mat Johnson (@mat_johnson) July 16, 2013
We all wonder why survivors don’t come forward; it is partly because you blame them and reinforce what they were told when being assaulted.
— PROSAF -SURVIVNG SA (@PROSAF_Sueezzy) July 17, 2013
A powerful statement by President Obama today: http://t.co/vtX1nkNXsW
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 19, 2013
People will tell you to “bleed on the page.” And readers have come to expect that of the personal narrative.
— stacia l. brown (@slb79) July 20, 2013
But you can’t just walk around opening veins for public consumption indiscriminately. Save some blood & mettle for yourself&the ppl you love
— stacia l. brown (@slb79) July 20, 2013
This damned notion that art is a luxury. Perhaps for the rich it is. But for the disregarded, it’s the only thing equal to their situation.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) July 25, 2013
It’s a hard balance to be compassionate & retain my commitment to dialog, while not enabling more of the same harmful behavior.
— Emily Maynard (@emelina) July 25, 2013
sometimes people check u coz u WRONG& are dehumanizing millions of people w your words. not coz u so deep&innovative& “they dont get it”.
— dulce de leche (@bad_dominicana) July 27, 2013
Trying to fit what once worked into what is now required often results in dysfunction.
— Iyanla Vanzant (@IyanlaVanzant) July 28, 2013
Racism is a multi layered system. We gotta unpack the interpersonal, internalized, cultural, institutional and structural layers #Nerdland
— Monica Dennis (@Sojourner4Truth) July 28, 2013
New motto. RT.“@thecrisismag:”We will not be calm or amenable and no longer will we use cute language” Rev. Wm.Barber, NC NAACP#MoralMonday”
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) July 30, 2013
“Change-washing” is a new groupie-delusion trend. Are you contributing original content or just an aggregator? http://t.co/j0ELtraKsa
— 99U (@99u) July 31, 2013
“If you don’t define yourself for yourself, you’ll be crushed into other people’s fantasies of you and be eaten alive.”—Audre Lorde
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) August 8, 2013
See, I’d rather be known as a “crazy feminist” than be complicit in my own dehumanization, but thanks for the suggestion that I calm down
— Sarah Schwartz (@SarahSchwartz) August 14, 2013
When oppression is portrayed as a mere difference of opinion, you can bet that the oppressor will maintain both their power and privilege.
— Anti_Intellect (@Anti_Intellect) August 16, 2013
Seth’s Blog: Your first mistake might be assuming that people are rational http://t.co/kd9ZFi0Gg3
— Matt Monge (@MattMonge) August 16, 2013
William Allison, 92, came to today’s march with same sign he marched with in ’63 pic.twitter.com/qT3kL8VlEP via @HamilHarris #MarchonWashington
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 24, 2013
Heteronormativity infiltrates everything. It never will allow YOU to be YOU. You’ll always have to be something for an audience.
— المثيرة الفوضى (@RomanKush) August 25, 2013
“But My Other Black Friends Let Me Say It Sometimes”: one man’s near death experience. #ABCReports
— KellBelle (@KHough09) August 27, 2013
How “positive thinking” provides a rationale for economic exploitation: http://t.co/dUibozkHez
— Tricycle Magazine (@tricyclemag) September 6, 2013
RT @huffpostrelig: “Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war.” – T Merton
— RevSean (@revsean) September 7, 2013
Our best students aren’t educated about race, empire and colonialism — and it’s enabling our global War on Terror http://t.co/xa0R6pLrZ0
— Salon.com (@Salon) September 13, 2013
If you don’t like it when people distrust you because of your privilege, work toward eliminating that privilege.
— Vivian Doug (@VanguardVivian) September 14, 2013
Movements built on catering to those in power change things for only the most privileged of marginalized groups, at expense of everyone else
— Sarah (@SarahNMoon) September 20, 2013
Mm! RT @jvic “Write beautifully what people don’t want to hear.” – Frederick Seidel, on his disagreeable poetry
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) September 21, 2013
I’ve heard accusations that queers will one day destroy families. I know some families have already tried to destroy queers.
— Peterson Toscano (@p2son) September 27, 2013
Sometimes folks simply can’t do all this activism…sometimes folks are just tired. Doesn’t mean they don’t care…
— Ms. Brooks™ (@TheREAL_MBrooks) September 28, 2013
If it shows itself to be tyrannical, interfering, intransigent, it will inevitably fail.
— Bruno Latourbot (@LatourBot) October 15, 2013
“Black women are expected to use our anger only in the service of other people’s salvation or learning.” –Audre Lorde
— Fat, Black, & Geeky (@TheAngryFangirl) October 18, 2013
It’s not rocket science. It’s just bigotry. We don’t need a grand dissertation about your motivations. We need you to stop being bigots.
— r. (@PlayVicious) October 26, 2013
folks just want to remix the master’s tools & call it revolution.
— Sister Outsider (@FeministGriote) October 29, 2013
Dr. Ben Carson must be thrilled that his conservative friends have cut the food stamps that kept him alive as a child.
— Chris L. Robinson (@chrisLrob) November 1, 2013
and for God’s sake, stop claiming feminism if you’re going to be a donkey butt about race. You’re exhausting me.
— Bombalurina (@grammercie) November 1, 2013
Equality for some will never bring justice for all.
— Alison Amyx (@QueerFaith) November 1, 2013
“Labels are overrated” & “we’re all just people”=just more oppression. We should be able to respect ppl w/o pretending they’re all the same.
— Vivian Doug (@VanguardVivian) November 17, 2013
Justice occurs when people fight harder for their rights than those trying to take them away…
— TAU Foundation (@TAUfoundation) October 5, 2013
i dont want a world where you cant accept all our different ways of being human.
— dulce de leche (@bad_dominicana) October 7, 2013
No one should have to “come out”, but it can be a powerful & affirmative action; asserting the power to define yourself.
— Alan Hooker (@awhooker) December 2, 2013
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND BOOM! RT @HarlemCam: “In order for nonviolence to work your opponent must have a conscience” -Kwame Toure
— Liza Sabater (@blogdiva) December 17, 2013
It takes activism from all angles to fight oppression from all angles. That’s it.
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) December 19, 2013
Long Reads and Research
“The economy is broken because the principles that make the marketplace thrive will eventually destroy it.” http://t.co/afRQ0yQ6 @kwiens
— Harvard Biz Review (@HarvardBiz) February 9, 2013
Britain’s massive debt to slavery. Excellent piece on how UK rewarded its slave owners, even after abolition http://t.co/sF4Z9lwxG6
— joseph harker (@josephharker) February 27, 2013
fascinating @tricyclemag piece on Nazi expedition to #Tibet, search for “original Aryan tribes”&”supernatural powers” http://t.co/INRwwiObUy
— Peter Certo (@peter_certo) December 12, 2013
Interview with J Sakai Asian American writer about settler colonialism http://t.co/DJIGKcMLfV he is #NotYourAsianSidekick
— Owl trap (@Ungr8ful_Savage) December 16, 2013