Why not just give everyone the benefit of the doubt? Wouldn't it be better if you just assumed that most people have genuinely good intentions? Educate them. Kindly. Patiently. And SMILE ! :)

Trigger warning at the author's request: This post discusses racism, racist violence, anti-Black racism, anti-Black racist violence, transphobia, and gendered violence at length. 

I write this article at an important time in history, but also in my own personal life. I am reeling from the not-guilty verdict in the case of the murder of Trayvon Martin over a week ago. At the same time, I am preparing to defend my Masters’ thesis, on

…