Tag: important

thecivilwarparlor:

Freedmen’s Bureau records from the US National Archives and Records Administration-Indexing nearly two million handwritten records-

These records are pivotal for African American research because they document freed slaves and others who struggled to redefine themselves after the Civil War.

In conjunction with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and other organizations, FamilySearch completed a project to index and publish online images of Freedmen’s Bureau records from the United States National Archives and Records Administration. These records are pivotal for African American research because they document freed slaves and others who struggled to redefine themselves after the Civil War. Nearly 19,000 online volunteers—mostly from the United States and Canada—finished indexing the nearly two million handwritten records in June 2016—just a year and a day after the initiative started. A copy of the database was presented to the newly completed Smithsonian National Museum of African American History Culture. The digitized records are searchable on DiscoverFreedmen.org and FamilySearch.org.

https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/freedmens-bureau

pyxel-spree:

If it’s about black people, use black actors.

If it’s about Japanese people, use Japanese actors.

If it’s about Latinx people, use Latinx actors from the country they’re supposed to be from.

If it’s about mixed-race people, use mixed-race actors.

Whitewashing a narrative because you want ___ white actor is never okay.

Putting white people in brown/black/yellow face is also not an acceptable solution.

Give us authentic faces. Show us the respect we deserve. Represent us with real people of color.

lazulisong:

stele3:

lazulisong:

Also it is as god damn hot as balls! Drink a water! Several waters! Another one! Unfortunately coffee is not a water! Neither is beer!!! If u hate the taste of water, consider drinking a juice! Diluted if u have to! If u can find those lime or lemon powder packets those work great! Set a fuckin timer kids u gotta stay hydrated especially if u are on meds or otherwise managing ur brain weasels!!! Brain weasels hate hydration!!!

I’m using “brain weasels hate hydration” from now on.

Partly I’m joking because That’s What I Do, but I’ve been around people with various forms of brain fail and brain weasel since I was born, and I’ve begun to think hunger and thirst signal failure and misfires are a genuine symptom people should look out for. And a shockingly amount of times, being properly hydrated relieves a lot of symptoms. So it’s not I’m gong to say that drinking how every many ounces of water a day is gonna cure u but by god when your brain has enough water to function it sure works a hell of a lot better. So yes. Brain weasels hate hydration. 

I have, by trial and a lot of error, found that if I am feeling particularly desirous of copious amounts of wanton destruction, eating something and drinking a glass of water helps get the frustration and/or rage back into manageable* limits most of the time. And I have several very annoying brain weasels I currently do not have the money to treat and health insurance that does not cover mental health very well.

tl;dr – Yes, all of this. Brain weasels hate hydration and full tummies.

*and by manageable, I mean that I at least have the spoons to remember to turn off the internet and go blow virtual things up, even if I can’t make the anxiety or depression or the ADHD stop being an ass.

HIV ‘Undetectable = Untransmittable’ Is a Game-Changing Fact. Why Isn’t the Message More Public?

actupny:

On a Sunday afternoon in late April, there was a small but buoyant dance party at the fairly new outdoor AIDS memorial in New York City’s Greenwich Village, which had once been ground zero of the AIDS epidemic.

[…]

The reason for the party? It was to celebrate and promote the fact that we now know with certainty that people with HIV whose meds make the virus undetectable in their blood (as confirmed by lab tests) cannot transmit the virus to sexual partners. In New York City, a host of organizations – including the health department and Housing Works – have been part of an effort in recent years to end New York State’s AIDS epidemic by 2020. Now, they’re rallying behind the Undetectable = Untransmittable or U=U message, which is the national rallying cry of the Prevention Access Campaign.

In recent months, a stunning array of prominent international agencies and individuals have signed onto a U=U consensus statement saying that, based on modern science, undetectable people cannot transmit HIV. They include AIDS United, GMHC, the Human Rights Campaign, the International AIDS Society, the UK’s National AIDS Trust and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), to name just a few.

“U=U is such incredible news that we’ve been saying we should be dancing in the streets about it,” says Bruce Richman, who started Prevention Access Campaign. Richman says he’s been eager to get the U=U word out since he learned in 2012 that because he was undetectable he was not infectious. (He was diagnosed with HIV in 2003.)

Even since then, scientific evidence for U=U has continued to mount in a series of very large studies, such as one released early last year finding that among nearly 900 serodiscordant (one HIV+, one HIV-) gay and straight couples followed over 16 months, there was no evidence of HIV infection despite their having condomless sex.

This has massive health, prevention and legal implications. It means that HIV-positive folks and their HIV-negative sexual partners can all but stop freaking out about the possibility of transmission. It also renders even more outdated various state laws from the 1980s and 1990s that criminalize HIV-positive people for endangering sexual partners when they don’t disclose their HIV status. Finally, it should serve to reduce the stigma suffered by HIV-positive people, who are often made to feel as if they are second-class citizens for carrying an infectious virus.

But despite all that – and despite the fact that U=U has essentially attained global scientific and advocacy consensus – national, state and local entities still do little to broadcast this fact to the general American public. A brief review of the main HIV webpages for health departments nationwide serving those states and cities hardest hit by HIV found that not one stated in clear language that people with undetectable HIV were incapable of transmitting the virus.

[…]

“None of the websites are saying this, none of the marketing campaigns,” says Richman. “I’ve found that people who know this information tend to be privileged, have private insurance, are often white. That is so unjust that information that concerns our social, sexual and reproductive health and lives is being withheld.”

Richman can become very passionate when talking about how little the HIV health establishment has done thus far to make U=U general knowledge. “When I realized that the power structure thought people with HIV were irresponsible and couldn’t understand this info, I was furious,” he says. “This information changed my life, lifted my feelings of shame and being toxic. That was so freeing.”

“Everyone,” he adds, “should clearly have that information.”

HIV ‘Undetectable = Untransmittable’ Is a Game-Changing Fact. Why Isn’t the Message More Public?

questingqueer:

I was sitting in the group room at my intensive outpatient program. I had just finished recounting an incident where I believed a security officer had been following me, but the person with me at the time had disagreed and said we weren’t being followed. 

The head psychologist said “Your goal this week should be letting in alternative theories to your paranoia. It isn’t likely anyone is following you.” I said “What do you mean? How can I trust someone else’s perspective over my own, especially when that someone is white?” Another person spoke up, suggested increasing my anti-psychotics.

I looked around the room at the other patients and the professionals in group with me. I was the only Black person there. 

I’m mentally ill, and sometimes I’m paranoid, and sometimes I’m delusional. 

I’m Black, and I’m more likely to be followed around by security, or have negative interactions with the police. The racism in this world is real, and it can affect me.

I’m mentally ill, and sometimes I have persecutory delusions, and there wasn’t any drugs in my orange juice or bugs living in my arms even though I was convinced there were.

I’m Black, and I’m mentally ill. And that intersection has never been acknowledged online or in therapy. That intersection makes us more vulnerable to abuse, domestic violence, and police brutality. 

Black schizo-spec people face challenges that others don’t. We are more likely to be be labeled as dangerous and violent and be disbelieved when we share about how racism has impacted our lives, among many other things. That makes it harder for me to trust others- not to mention that difficulty trusting others is a symptom.

Was I being followed that day? I wish I had an answer, but I don’t know. Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t. But that isn’t the point. 

A simple search will tell you that schizophrenia is more readily diagnosed in Black patients than in white (source), and some say it is overdiagnosed.

image

But where are the positivity posts for Black people with stigmatizing disorders?

 Where is the positivity for the Black schizo-spec people trying to figure out what level of fear and suspicion towards the police is reasonable and what is a symptom? Where is the positivity for Black schizo-spec people who have everything blamed on their diagnosis while their other mental health problems get ignored? Where’s the positivity for Black schizo-spec people who distrust the medical professionals they deal with, who have ugly symptoms, who are pigeonholed as dangerous?

We have died because we are Black and schizo-spec. Remember those of us who have been murdered.

And? Don’t forget to include us in your activism while we are living. 

(ok to rb)

kaible:

galacticpasta:

sleepyflannel:

twink-phobia:

all public school anti-bullying activism is extremely transparent and meaningless

faculty: BULLYING IS BAD!! ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY!! THIS IS A HATE FREE ZONE!!

me: hey this person called me a stupid dyke today

faculty: hmm that’s unfortunate. have you tried perhaps, not being gay?

I feel like everyone is against bullying until they actually look at the kids who are being bullied.

The cheesy anti-bullying tapes that they show in schools feature these skinny straight white neurotypical kids who get picked on for no reason. Usually the insults are something along the lines of “You’re a loser!” or “Get lost, freak.” All the kids watching immediately feel bad for the victim, and think “Aw! She didn’t deserve that!” 

Then, ten minutes later, they go pick on some marginalized kid without thinking twice. As an autistic person, I was often this kid. The insults I heard growing up were not “You’re a loser!” or “Get lost, freak.” They were “Don’t let the retard work with us” or “Shouldn’t she be going to the special school?”

The problem is we teach kids that bullying occurs for no other reason other than just to be mean. This could not be further from the truth. Bullying occurs because as a society, we condition kids into hating fat, black, neurodivergent, queer, and disabled people. Kids don’t bully each other just to be mean. They do it because if something’s “wrong” with the person, it’s completely justified.

But of course, we can’t tell kids this kind of stuff. We can’t say, “Hey! Making fun of your gay classmate is bad!”

Because when we do, suddenly the phone calls come pouring in, each with a parent on the other end screaming “You can’t be feeding my son that liberal propaganda!” 

there’s also the fact that schools rarely do much about bullies verbally harassing people, and only care when the victims retaliate (especially if the victim is upset enough to physically retaliate), because “oh but you’re supposed to be BETTER than them! fighting doesn’t solve anything!!” is easier for people who are supposed to be protectors and guardians to say than for them to actually do anything useful or concrete to stop the actions of the bullies in question. The fact that if a victim of bullying is upset enough to retaliate, both parties are treated as equally guilty says a lot.

see also: how this carries over into society as a whole and people who harass and abuse minorities are defended and treated sympathetically because “free speech!!!” but the second someone makes it clear they will not tolerate that kind of behavior and will react with physical violence if necessary to protect themselves and others, they’re blamed for “causing problems” and “being violent” because people like to pretend verbal abuse doesn’t count as a threat. We live in a society that actively teaches bullies they can get away with their behavior as long as they want, because the authorities will always have their back.

wintersoldierfell:

here is a thing dudes can do to help women in 1 easy step. dudes, do you see a conversation happening between two women? and in the course of this conversation, do you hear one of them making what seems to you to be a factual error? do you feel it’s important to step in and correct this error, even though it might have no bearing whatever on the conversation, even though you have no reason to believe you have more expertise than these women, and even though you are not part of this conversation? 

cool. here’s what you should do, in one easy step:

1. shut the fuck up.

ophelias-revenge:

bi-fly-and-datingaguy:

You know what’s messed up? People make fun of women for reading romance novels in which men are kind, chivalrous and sexually generous to the women they love, but men watching violent hardcore porn where women choke on dicks is considered normal, and ‘shaming’ someone for it is considered more taboo than the porn itself.
And women reading romance novels has certainly yet to lead to a culture where men are considered lesser if they don’t emulate the men in the pages.
I wonder the fuck why.

Holy shit I’ve never put these two things together before now