If we aren’t all free, no one is free. All we want is freedom to control our own bodies. We speak up for Mahsa Amini and the women of Iran, for this is about people everywhere. 🖤 From a young age, people are taught to inhibit themselves, and so they in turn inhibit others with made up standards of what they were once taught they “must” and “mustn’t”. However, out of all creation, the one part of existence that we have absolute freedom with- that we needn’t answer to anyone for- is ourselves- our minds, our hearts, our bodies. We all deserve to have ownership over ourselves. We all deserve the right to choose for ourselves. We all deserve bodily autonomy. Mahsa Amini was my age when her life was taken from her, because others believed they could control her body. Among my people I’ve grown up knowing our women are our leaders. Our women are our strength and our center. If I do not let my voice be heard by my baby sisters, other voices will try to convince her that they possess her power. As Indigenous people, our hair, like all of our being, is our power. Traditions and teachings guide how we relate to our hair, how we care for it, how we braid it, when we wear bangs and when we cut it short. These traditions tie us to our ancestors and our people’s unique intimate relationship with our world. But, these traditions are not laws. What we choose to do with our hair is our choice. It is our right. What we do with our hair is our story, and that is left for each of us alone to choose. If we are too rigid in passing our way of life to our youth our traditions will snap like brittle twigs and be abandoned and forgotten. Or they will bind us- until we are broken by something that was meant to free us. Know that Iran’s “morality police” and internet shutdown are oppressive forces of control like those that were used to erase and subjugate my people. Those forces were not successful then, and we cannot be quiet lest we allow them to succeed now. We must open our eyes to what is happening. We must remember, we are all relations. • #mahsaamini #iran #womanlifefreedom #jinaamini #justiceformahsaamini #bodilyautonomy #مهسا امینی