Reclaiming the Self in a System Built on Erasure

The Gaslight and the Flame: Reclaiming the Self in a System Built on Erasure

You are not crazy.
You are not too much.
You are not alone.

In spaces that were never built for our fullness, many of us—minority professionals, gifted individuals, neurodivergent minds—are told, “You are doing great,” while quietly being passed over.
The email says, We so value your contribution.
But the bonus never comes.
The promotion vanishes.
The leadership track remains locked.

This is not confusion.
It is calculated containment.

Some of us are told we are resilient.
But what they mean is: I will not help you.

Others are handed labels instead of power, diagnoses instead of dialogue, praise instead of position.

But if you are reading this, some part of you already knows:
You were not broken.
You were interfered with.

You had dreams larger than their lanes.
You saw patterns they refused to see.
You spoke when silence would have been more comfortable for them.

And now, it is time to reclaim.

Not productivity.
Not professionalism.
But presence.

A return to your body.
To your knowing.
To the flame they tried to contain.

A Short Incantation for Reclamation

I call back my fire from all false altars.
I return my breath to my own chest.
I am not here to be understood by systems built on erasure.
I am here to remember.
To reclaim.
To rise on my own rhythm.

Recite this with the kora piece Missing You by Seckou Keita—
not as a lover’s lament, but as a return to the self that was never truly lost.
Or use music from your tradition, your ancestors, your breath.

Let this be your beginning.

You do not need permission.

You are the flame.