Hi,
But I have nothing new to say.
It feels like I have lived lifetimes of grief in the past few weeks. I’ve put my pain on the page, only for it to be revived anew; in the sudden, unexplained death of a beloved friend who was like a sister to me. In 19-year-old OluwaToyin Salau’s assault and murder. In Seyitan’s public humiliation by the man she named as her rapist; a famous musician who on Wednesday used the Nigerian police force to abduct her. All of these in the last two weeks.
I have nothing new to say. We live in an unfair world. Some of the unfairness is largely beyond our control, like disease and disaster. Much of it is not. Much of it is injustice; unfairness by design. And those of us who are most at risk of this injustice are so very tired. It hurts. It’s scary. It’s disorienting. It hurts. And we are tired.
Do you know how tired you would get if I wrote to you every week about the kind of pain that the world forces on some people?
Can you imagine how tired we must be from having to live with this pain?
I have nothing new to say. Nothing at all. But this world is not okay. This violence is not okay. To end this violence, I’m asking you to choose to listen to the people who are most at risk. Care for the people who are most endangered. Reorient your resources to the people who are most likely to be forgotten. No ifs, ands or buts.
Poverty exists by design. Rape culture exists by design. Racism exists by design. Homelessness, inadequate healthcare, food insecurity, intimate partner violence, bigotry of all kinds – we created these things. Our societies run on these things. Too many of us can’t imagine our world without them.
Is this what it means to be human? You tell me. Because I have nothing new to say.
Till next time,
OluTimehin
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