What a surreal week.

On the morning of the eclipse, my half-brother in the Philippines messages me to tell me my other half-brother died. I won’t be able to go back and attend the funeral.

I let my other siblings know what happened. Normally we are estranged from one another, but sadly, death gives us a “legitimate” excuse to reach out and talk to one another.

Instead of dealing with that loss, tonight, I am dealing with a form of trauma that Black women often go through, but no one talks about:

Being harmed by a fellow Black woman. Especially when there is a HUGE disparity. You are a racially oppressed nobody while they are a racially oppressed SOMEBODY with bragging rights - a New York Times bestselling book or two. They have managed to monetize their pain through books, public speaking engagements; you are relegated to posting about your pain on Facebook, where no one really cares.

 Ijeoma Oluo blocked me from her Facebook page because I commented that DiDi Delgado insulted me, a nobody. I talked about the lack of support for my change dot org petition from the Black and Blasian community, so I was not above asking whyte people for signatures.

I am humble enough to admit my failure to be embraced by communities of which I belong to through my Black and Asian heritage. Yet, DiDi Delgado chose to kick me when I was already down. I didn’t realize Ijeoma Oluo was her devoted bedfellow. So the latter blocked me, in neurotypical Mean Girl fashion.

Facebook drama is real. I didn’t ask for it, but whenever I talk about my lived experience, I tend to bring out people’s true colors.

So no more closeups of Ijeoma Oluo’s face and her latest makeup adventures in my feed.

No more posts showing off her fashionable Palestinian watermelon-colored clothing.

She has branded me an enemy because I said something negative about DiDi Delgado and the screenshot of Didi’s insult to me was there on my Facebook profile for all to see.

It really is a shame. 

We can and should do better.

Thanks for listening. I have made peace with the fact that this campaign is currently stalled because I am not pouring my meager life savings into it. I can only count on your kindness and willingness to spread the word.

Thank you for reading.