Definition, Deconstruction, and Empowerment

By Vincent La
Co-Chair of the Queer People of Color Conference

Decolonization is to deconstruct our own identities and to forge leadership that reverberates throughout our different communities. Individuals obsess over the definition instead of the issue at hand and that in my opinion is what keeps progressive movements from pushing forward into leaps and bounds. We must not focus on our own personal oppressions but choose to work to our strengths to empower each other. Definitionalism is a damaging style of intellectual inquiry based on perverse, fetishistic involvement with definition. We are our worst oppressors.