Just wanted to say ‘thank you’… and more food for thought to follow up!

Dear readers,

I am absolutely floored by the amount of support I received for my last blog post about my name. Thank you so much to everyone who gave it a read, shared it, commented on it and complimented it. I’ve actually been wanting to write about that for awhile, and I am extremely glad to have finally written that post. And while I am so happy that many of you thought it was a good read, the truth is, the fact that so many of you related to it was really nothing to celebrate about. Because it means that so many of us experience racism, daily. It means that so many people get away with saying ignorant things without even knowing that they did. And this makes me feel even more for people who experience intolerance and oppression in even more obvious, and outright disgusting ways. Because if you read my last post and realized how terrible someone has made you feel just by not understanding what your name is about, imagine what it would be like to be marginalised for your beliefs or how you look, to be called a terrorist or banned from a country for thoughtless reasons, to be slut shamed for choices you have the freedom to make, to be told to use the bathroom with people of a gender you don’t identify with, to have lost a loved one to hate violence… just to name a few of the horrific, heart-wrenching struggles people of Color, LGBTQ and other marginalized groups face every single day. So, cheesy as it sounds, it’s really up to us to stand up for ourselves and our friends and family, and our fellow humans to build a world that isn’t ignorant. A world that is safe for everyone. Maybe start with the little problems you can tackle, like telling someone what your name is and how to say it right, once and for all. 

Thank you again. We will talk again soon!

^^^ that’s me, v happy because y’all shared my post so much, thank you thank you so much (photo by Regan Norton, full photo story by her coming soon!)

Btw I know I said I’d have a more light-hearted post after my last one but, I didn’t know how having my post shared so many times was gonna make me feel about bigger world issues! I PROMISE I’ll do a different post next!

Sincerely,

Valerie 

Follow me on Instagram @valeriedabomb