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@oaustegard
Last active February 13, 2025 01:37
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27 words too dangerous for our time…

Dictionary of Humanity

What words will you erase today?
Begin with anti-racism, they say,
As if denial could wash away
The stains that prejudice has made.

Strike out diversity, diverse,
As though uniformity's not worse,
Then equity, equitableness—
All terms that make the powerful fret.

Tear pages from our history:
Gender, gender identity,
Inclusion, inclusive declared
Too dangerous to be shared.

Cross out all-inclusive dreams,
Inclusivity, it seems,
Makes privilege uncomfortable,
Makes bias all too visible.

Erase the truth of intersectionality,
The complex web of who we are:
Our racial identity,
Our sexuality unfurled like stars.

Delete the words for what you fear:
Stereotypes you hold so dear,
The confirmation bias clear
In every word you disappear.

Pronouns—gone with one swift stroke,
Transgender—silence now evoked,
Feminism—deemed too bold,
Equality—too strong to hold.

But here's what tyrants never learn:
Each banned word will stronger return,
For justice, like allyship divine,
Lives in hearts, not words in line.

Let injustice be named and known,
Though every website's overthrown.
These words are seeds beneath the snow—
From censored soil, more fierce they grow.

@oaustegard
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