Thread by @sarahgraysaid

#TW!!! 🧵 “Sarah, why are you so hard on the @GovStitt” I take on a lot of personal passion projects. They normally center on the NDN experience, women, kids, mental wellness and sex worker rights.

Supposed to write what you know, right? /1

I write about NDN life because it is my responsibility to keep fighting for the honor of my ancestors and to protect my future generations from Yt supremacists like @GovStitt (worth noting, he’s also fighting for his ancestors legacy 🙃) /2

I fight for women’s rights because I won’t disrespect myself or dishonor my ancestors by allowing the same colonizers’ country who forced sterilization on nearly 25% of NDN women/girls in a 6 year period to tell ANY OF US what we can do with our bodies. /3

My paternal grandma was pressured into placing my father and oldest uncle into a Catholic adoption agency. If she would have had an abortion (if she wanted to) she would likely have been sterilized. Incremental genocide /4

During the pandemic, @GovStitt essentially banned abortion bc it was an “elective procedure.” Turns out, right when he did that, I found out I was pregnant. A mistake with a temporary person in my life. Not a heartbreaking story. Not even close to the hardest choice of my life/5

But I, a woman with access to resources, flew to DC for a medical abortion. Put myself up in a hotel, went early to get a few runs in around the National Park & take a business meeting, see a friend - went to the appt alone. Left feeling grateful/content /6

And then it didn’t work. And the pandemic was raging, the clinic I went to couldn’t see me fast enough, flights were cancelling. So I drove to Chicago in my comfortable car, stayed at a comfortable hotel, bought myself wine, went to my appt, drove home. /7

Making regulated abortion services illegal/inaccessible will only make it illegal/dangerous for pregnant ppl who can’t afford to travel to access it. No sad story w/my abortion other than disappointment w/the other 1/2 of the pregnancy. Every1 should have access2 safe abortion /8

I pour my whole heart into opportunities to protect children, because I experienced a lot of preventable trauma growing up.

& My parent had a rough time sorting out mental health hurdles with drs who didn’t invest in their wellness & it nearly shredded our family. /9

Mental wellness and care is always going to be a topic of concern for me. I didn’t grow up in a world where folks talked about anxiety, depression, bipolar, ADHD, manic episodes etc

It’s taken me 28 years, bt I’m going to do my part in reducing the stigma for the next gens /10

I was successfully groomed and exploited by a 28 y/o well-off man when I was 16 & homeless/drop-out. He bought me a fake ID and forced me to work at a strip club several times a week until I decided to get back into school- then I was working most nights after school. /11

I met some of the most heartbreaking, empowering, intimidating, kind womxn when I worked there. I also met some of the absolute scariest men I’ve ever encountered in my life. my experience being sex trafficked changed the entire direction of my life so intensely. /12

All of these moments came together to create the unrelenting, “woke”, sex positive, sick of this bullshit, assertive fxminist you know today.

I’m not scared of these weak YT men bc I’ve looked much scarier in the eye and survived. /13

I’ve retroactively seen how the trauma in my life has all swirled and compounded and became self-perpetuating bc it was held underwater by a net of shame, fear of rejection in personal relationships, and judgment from people in power in my professional life. /14

But I’m at a point in my life where I love my story. A lot happened I would never wish on anyone, but here I am. Privileged enough 2have survived long enough 2 stand on my story w/love for myself & tunnel vision towards preventing assholes like @GovStitt from harming others /end