Justice For Cassie. Protect Brown and Black women, girls, and femmes.

Photo retrieved from Reddit

Filipina/x millennials of a certain age who grew up in the States (perhaps Black, Brown, and other millennial women and femmes of color generally) have long identified with Casandra "Cassie" Ventura.

Me & U was a standard “feelin’ myself” anthem of the late 2000s. Our girl was perpetually sweet, beautiful, and mysterious on P. Diddy’s arm… the few times those of us too obsessed with celebrity culture actually got to see her. We saw and heard very little from her over the years. Our play count of her radio hit grew into the triple digits, but she never released any other music of note. We noticed at some point that she shaved half her head (and was still drop-dead gorgeous, of course). We might have had a three-second sighting of her on TV at the Pacquiao v. Mayweather fight in 2015. But what after? We expected so much more.

Nevertheless, we always held a candle in our hearts for our dELIA*s catalog queen-turned Puff Daddy's girlfriend.

So when the abuse came to light a decade and a half later, our hearts broke for Cassie. And deep down, we knew. Naively, we wanted to believe otherwise. But part of us always knew.

We once wanted to be her. And when the world found out how badly Diddy abused her, we knew, because we realized we WERE her. Some version of her. Whether teenage dream Cassie, one hit wonder Cassie, hip hop arm candy Cassie, or mama era Cassie. No matter which, we share her secrets: a deep desire for love, not always a healthy idea of it. Vulnerability to abusive relationships and interpersonal violence. An internal landscape we keep skillfully hidden from the world.

And now, we witness and stand in solidarity with her resilience. A courage so bright, it blinds. Healing. Emanating from and around her precious baby bump. In that courtroom last week, she spoke truth and liberation to her years of fear and silence.

Cassie, that same it-girl. We Filipina/x millenials and other millenial women of color have always been proud of her, and we could not be more proud of her than we are today. We wish her seven generations of healing, backward and forward. And we wish justice and protection for Cassie and all Brown and Black women, girls, and femmes.