4th of July…

Today is Independence Day here in the States.

And I find myself sitting with the complexity of that word right now.

Freedom. For whom. Under what conditions. At what cost.

People are being detained without due process. Trans people are losing fundamental rights. Women are continuing to lose their rights. Black and Brown people are being unfairly targeted. Families cannot afford food, rent, or healthcare.

The promise of freedom has never been equally distributed and right now that gap is wider than ever.

I still believe in the kind of freedom that starts inside a woman. The decision to stop shrinking. To stop living for everyone else. To claim her own life as her own.

But I do not want to talk about inner freedom today without naming that outer freedom is under attack for too many people.

Both things are true.

Today I am thinking about everyone whose freedom is not guaranteed, including my own. And I am still building mine. Because that is how we fight back.

Because a woman who is fully herself is harder to control.

And that has always been the point. 💜

I realize this isn’t the typical 4th of July message and that some people will not like this - and I am okay with that. I believe it is important to acknowledge what is happening and do what we can to change that.

xo, Denise

#july4th #freedom #womenempowerment #womensrights #humanrights