Know Your Worth

Conflating Worth with Humanity is Inherently Flawed

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I’ve heard many iterations of “know your worth” throughout my adult life. We’re told the phrase is meant to empower, to inform me that I dictate the value of my time as I work to survive the death camps of whiteness. This phrase is meant to convey that I’m the master of my fate.

Yet, western society built itself on assigning value to humanity. We do not determine our worth; we’re informed of it. We don’t decide how we are treated; we learn on a case-by-case basis and that treatment changes based on who is nearby. I am simultaneously validated and invalidated by my spouse because in this culture, marriage proves my value while granting him access to and control of my life. Being Black, my worth in this society is low, but I am cis-het as is my spouse, and that protects our relationship in ways that same-sex couples are not.

This social hierarchy is constantly evolving, capturing and marginalizing people in innumerable ways — ways that many people refuse to acknowledge. Wealthy white women are not concerned with Roe vs Wade. They are secure in their whiteness and wealth, two things that will ensure they never need rely on public approval or government sanction. White women who are not wealthy are starting to realize their whiteness may not protect them from the impending violence. Yet, they stand firm in the knowledge that at least they won’t be treated as badly as Black people — and that is where they will hold their line.

This hierarchy determines who lives and who dies. It protects the resource holding human traffickers also known as the global “elites” while maintaining a disposable population that would provide those resources, including humans to traffick. They limit who can access those resources both to ensure their comfort but also to control the lives of those who generate them because control over people’s lives without any accountability is the true power and the constant goal.

To protect their power, they lie, steal, and murder with impunity. They demonstrate that they are willing and able to inflict horrific violence on millions of people and feel no remorse. Even if they did feel remorse, feelings are fleeting, and in time they would be able to explain it away. They create nonsense goals, promote…