Thread by @_shireenahmed_

Every year on December 6th, I pause.
Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I breath.
Was 12 years old when I watched this horror unfold on CBC news. I will never forget how terrified I felt. It was the moment when I realized that violence against women was my responsibility to combat, too.

https://twitter.com/CMHR_News/status/1600148705637584897

Victims of the Montreal Massacre. 🌹

I have identified as a feminist since I was young - and now a feminist who's beliefs are rooted in intersectionality and anti-oppression and a liberation that is connected tonother marginalozed groups. I'm still on a journey and my life events and unlearnings have shaped this.

But the events of December 6 were largely the reason I started to do read about feminism and women's work. Albeit largely second wave feminist work.
If smart, ambitious, white women were going to be killed, I had no chance. I knew this then. Even at 12.

This moment was as impactful for me, a child who felt very safe in Canadian society despite systems of racism and microaggressions. It was a rude awakening.

It still hurts. Even today.

I didn't know those women but I think about them a lot. And their devastated families.

VAW is a horrible part of every society. It thrives along with other systems of oppression:
interpersonal violence/domestic abuse, religious abuse, financial abuse, psychological and emotional control, and violent misogyny are all a part of it.

Fight it. Always.

Resist and help communities by paying attention to #MMIWG campaigns, by dismantling anti-Blackness, and fighting transphobia.
Support women in their struggles and support their work.