Thread by @radfagg

This is a picture of my grandfather from his time in the army.

Days like #MemorialDay are fraught for me as an abolitionist from a police and military family. #DemilitarizeNow #AbolitionNow

It's hard to honor the sacrifices (I do believe military service is a sacrifice, just not in the ways that are touted/glorified) of poor, working Black ppl in my family/community, while being clear they have suffered for those sacrifices, as have many around them. #MemorialDay

The "sacrifice" of the service people in my life has been of their mental/physical/emotional health. The result has been generations of trauma for themselves and their loved ones. #MemorialDay #DemilitarizeNow #AbolitionNow

The ppl in my life who joined the police/military were repeatedly told it was all they were good for, that they had no future anywhere else. #MemorialDay #DemilitarizeNow #AbolitionNow

Many of them were young, angry, overlooked ppl who felt powerless in their own lives, and were seduced by the power and purpose promised them by police/military service. #MemorialDay #AbolitionNow #DemilitarizeNow

I honor poor, working, Black people who were told the only value they had come from sacrificing their bodies for the empire that enslaved their ancestors, that is sacrificing their communities now to #COVID19 #MemorialDay #DemilitarizeNow #AbolitionNow

I honor poor, working, Black and Brown people across the planet who have suffered and died due to US imperialism and occupation, often led by those trying to escape similar conditions on the US mainland. #MemorialDay #DemilitarizeNow #AbolitionNow

I honor a vision for Black liberation which is dependent on no other community's subjugation nor death, which does not seek approval nor acceptance from empire, and which defunds police and the military in place of the basic resources we all deserve #MemorialDay #DemilitarizeNow