Stop Sugarcoating Injustice

Call It What It Is, Or You’re Just Helping It Thrive

We’ve gotten really good at dressing up oppression in polite language.

• Displacement becomes “urban revitalization.”

• Starving wages become “entry-level opportunities.”

• Policing poverty becomes “public safety.”

• Criminalizing homelessness becomes “cleaning up the streets.”

Let’s be very clear:
None of this is sweet. None of this is neutral. And none of it deserves soft language.

This is not mismanagement. It’s not a misunderstanding. It’s not a system that “just needs tweaking.”

It is injustice — deliberate, sustained, and violent.
And every time we sugarcoat it, we help it fester.

Comforting Lies vs. Uncomfortable Truths

They want you to believe this system is fair with a few cracks.
That people just “fall through” sometimes.
That bad things happen to good people, and we should all just be grateful we’re not one of them.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
This system doesn’t have cracks. It has traps.
And the people falling? They were pushed.

Why We Sugarcoat

Because the truth makes people uncomfortable.
Because it forces confrontation.
Because once you name injustice, you’re on the hook to do something about it.

So instead, we use palatable language that takes the edge off:

• “At-risk” instead of systematically targeted.

• “Low-income” instead of intentionally underpaid.

• “Underserved” instead of deliberately neglected.

But let’s be honest — what has that softness gotten us?
More budgets for cops.
More cuts to housing.
More families evicted.
More people left to die in silence.

Sugarcoating doesn’t protect the vulnerable. It protects the people hurting them.

Start Calling It What It Is

• A city bulldozing a homeless encampment isn’t “cleaning up.” It’s state-sponsored violence.

• A minimum wage that can’t pay rent isn’t “entry-level.” It’s modern-day exploitation.

• A developer buying up low-income housing and jacking up rent isn’t “revitalizing.” They’re profiting off displacement.

If it walks like injustice, talks like injustice, and devastates like injustice — then it’s injustice.
Stop putting sprinkles on a shit sandwich.

Words Shape Reality—So Choose Yours Carefully

You want to make a difference? Start by speaking the truth.

Not the diluted truth. Not the press release version.
The raw, bloody, inconvenient truth.

The truth that makes your coworkers shift in their chairs.
The truth that makes the boardroom quiet.
The truth that gets your post shadow banned.

Because real change doesn’t come from making people comfortable.
It comes from making them see what they’ve tried so hard to ignore.

And when you stop sugarcoating injustice?
You start forcing the world to confront it.

So, stop softening the blow.
Stop hiding the rot behind buzzwords and branding.
Say what needs to be said.

Loudly.
Clearly.
And without apology.