Dear Ex "Best" Friend;

I am neither going to be mean nor am I am going to be nice here; simply, I am going to be honest: your friendship was not what I needed and I am glad you ended our friendship. Despite all the fun times we might have had, I realized that you and I are completely two different people with two entire different outlooks politically at least until I had made it clear that I am progressive and that I dedicate my life to social justice activism, more specifically, that I align myself with the Black Lives Matter movement.

And somehow, that made you upset.

But I am not sorry.

You ended our two year friendship because I shared several "black lives matter" posts on Facebook, and I had posted an Elie Wiesel quote on the matter of injustice; More than that, you ended our friendship because I said that police brutality was real.

I get that your mom is a cop. I get that you have close ties with the police. But, blindly defending police, and automatically assuming that all of them are heroes and brave and morally inclined, just shows that you stand on the wrong side of history; you've chosen the side of the oppressor, and I cannot stand by you.

But I am not sorry.

I neither hate cops nor do I celebrate senseless police deaths such as the ones in Texas as your mom had suggested to me under my Elie Wiesel post, which I am both still hurt and flabbergasted by.

But I am not sorry.

I cannot apologize for those posts nor should the thought of apologizing for caring about a crucial social movement of our times have even crossed my mind. But it did, and I am letting you know now that I will not apologize. Not now. Not ever.

And if this compelled you to end our friendship, well perhaps our friendship wasn't as real as I had thought.

The worst part of this was that....you should've known my views because I have not only told you about my studies as a history major, but also about my diverse ethnic background and how with the xenophobic and racist political climate we are living in, I will not tolerate any oppression and persecution of any kind.

So how could you even be angry at me for speaking out against the injustices in the system that, historically, has always been against minorities- especially African Americans.

But perhaps I shouldn't be as surprised and as hurt as I was because you were the type of person who used the N word as a slang even though it is derogatory and despite the fact that you're white. I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was. So why was I?

Well because I had considered you a close friend. Hell, I had considered you a best friend, a sister almost.

I felt angry. I felt betrayed, and moreover, I felt disgusted. Disgusted with you, but more importantly, with myself. I was disgusted with myself because I did not see this coming. Because I had let you into my life and know too much about me.

I know this is harsh, maybe mean to some, but I have had this anger simmering for awhile now and I needed to let this out; I need you to know that I am not sorry about our friendship ending because it was a friendship that should've never been because frankly, we are complete polar opposites in every sense.

Now, I didn't mind we had different taste in clothes, makeup, music, books and what have you. My problem was is that the political divide between us was too great. I'm progressive, and you are a neoconservative (you might not think so, but judging from your posts and views, I can tell.)

I cannot be friends with someone who not only denies and belittles an important social movement, but also doesn't see the Republican nominee as the embodiment of fascism.

And as I had mentioned before, I cannot stand beside someone who stands on the wrong side of history; I cannot stand with someone who uses racially derogatory terms as if they are casual slang (the N word, even with the "ah" is STILL derogatory, no matter what you might think.) More importantly, I cannot stand with someone who refuses to acknowledge the struggles of others.

Call this what you will, but this is my catharsis. This is a means of letting go and making sense of what happened. I know you probably won't see this, but in case you do...

I am not sorry.

I am free.

- Sarah.