The Naming Tradition

Rabia spoke with radical directness about her inner states, her struggles, and her insights. She did not soften her truth for comfort or palatability. The Naming Tradition applies this directness to microaggressions and slow exclusion: the practice of explicitly naming what is happening rather than questioning your own perception or absorbing the harm in silence. Slow exclusion often depends on ambiguity—was that comment about your accent actually about linguistics, or was it mockery? Did they forget to include you by accident? This ambiguity becomes a tool of oppression because it prevents you from fully acknowledging the pattern. The Naming Tradition says: name it. In a journal, to a trusted friend, in a community space, or even internally. Say: I am being excluded. This is a pattern. This hurts. This is not my imagination. Rabia's example teaches that truth-telling is itself a form of devotion—loyalty to reality over comfort, to honesty over harmony.