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People are

Deborah Wardlaw Pattillo

People are using your name without permission
People are taking your picture without permission
People are talking about you without your permission
People are saying you said things without your permission
People are quoting you without asking first if they can quote you on that
You hadn’t yet decided whether those thoughts would be public
You hadn’t yet taken those thoughts past their animal form
You were uttering them, testing out whether or not you would take them to the next
level
You thought you had might as well throw them away
People took those thoughts and made a banner of them
People made those thoughts into a flag they could rally behind, and those were your
thoughts
People took those thoughts out of context and appropriated them for their next big hate
You didn’t feel hate when you said those thoughts, but those thoughts are now said to be
your hate



Deborah Wardlaw Pattillo

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