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MrsCheaplaugh

(271 posts)

8. "Why don't you smile?"

Reply to Sparkly (Original post)

Sat Feb 7, 2026, 08:36 AM

Saturday

Hearing this sentence always reminds me of a passage in the Autobiograpy of Frederick Douglass where he talks about how slave owners would become suspicious of slaves who failed to smile, deeming them troublemakers. Oppressors and exploiters always want their downtrodden underclass to smile, grin, and dance, whether they're POC or women.

It makes them feel better.