Deconstruction is not chaos

Stop asking for permission to disrupt

After years of working in spaces that talk about inclusion, intersectionality, and equity, I’ve realised something difficult: most of us are still trying to fit in, to package radical ideas in acceptable formats, squeeze lived experience through institutional bottlenecks, and justify our truths using the very language that excludes us. We follow the rules hoping to challenge the system from within. But the system was built to preserve itself.

I’ve seen powerful intersectional work diluted until it’s palatable, dressed up in academic citations and neat deliverables. I’ve done it myself - edited raw, uncomfortable truths into “respectable” findings to make them fundable, publishable, digestible. We call this strategy, professionalism, diplomacy. But often, it's survival. And slowly, it can turn into silence.

When did we become so afraid of disorder? Why is deconstruction seen as dangerous instead of necessary?

The truth is: change that matters will be disruptive. It has to be. If we want to talk about social justice with integrity, we must be willing to risk our safety nets - reputation, funding, approval, even belonging. That’s terrifying. But following rigid rules to challenge injustice is like writing protest slogans in invisible ink. Real transformation doesn’t happen in the margins of the system.